mobileYouth®

What is mobileYouth?

mobileYouth: Behavioral research, telecoms analysis and consultancy. We’ve been advising over 250 clients in 65 countries on youth mobile culture since 2001. From identifying the latest messaging application trends to understanding how youth are using smartphone technology or mobile banking to developing models of influence – if it’s about the world’s 1.8 billion mobile owners aged under 30 – we have it covered.

Step into a World of Youth Marketing & Mobile Culture…

What is youth mobile culture?

Why study mobile cell phone owning Gen-Y (Generation Y), Millennials, Teens and Students? With 1.8 billion youth cell phone accounts around the world, the youth mobile market is worth $360 billion annually – 10x the size of the global recorded music industry. mobileYouth research shows the trend is growth – 50% in the next 4 years with emerging markets a significant proportion of the growth. mobileYouth’s recent survey data shows by 2012, one in five of the world’s mobile phone owning youth will be living in India. (research sources mobileYouth report 2011).

About mobileYouth research

Youth research is very broad. While we provide data and trends, our core value is distinct. mobileYouth research is cultural insight. We explain why youth use mobile phones in certain ways. We provide a framework for understanding behavior clients can use to predict the future trajectory of technology and mobile culture.

As companies move from strategies based on market share to ones based on share of customer, we believe the brands with the deepest insights rather than the most knowledge and data will win. We believe being “liked” by customers is worthless and brands today need to form relationships based on “love” because it’s these brands that youth recommend to each other and 62% of all youth handset purchase decisions are influenced by peers not advertising.

Understanding the new science of Influence

62% of youth brand and technology decisions are influenced by friends and family. By 2011, Earned Media will replaced Paid as the #1 driver of youth consumer behavior for smartphones. Only 1/3 of the Mobile Youth generation trusted advertising – preferring peers to guide their cell phone choices rather than traditional marketing messages. Handset brand choice is shaped by Paid vs Earned Media splits. Our research data shows key “Beachheads” of customer support for brands in specific age groups not found in rival brands. The mobileYouth report identifies the changing media influence landscape and the need for mobile brands to focus on facilitating dialogues through Earned Media strategies.

Insights and Trends

MobileYouth Data – Insights and Trends:Youth spend just short of $400 billion on mobile cellular services annually. That’s one dollar in every ten of their disposable income going to a mobile telecoms company. In some markets, our survey data shows the mobile generation spend up to 25% of their income on mobile – that’s one large chunk of the spending pie. The implications for mobile brands are that they are no longer competing in category but with a wider evoked set of goods that appeal to Generation Y as any future growth in their spending must be reflected by a cannibalization of revenues elsewhere. The trend shows a continued rise although our recent mobileYouth research shows youth have reached a natural ARPU ‘ceiling’.