Women spend twice the time spent by men on smartphones, says report

The research by MMA in association with Kantar IMRB studies the evolving nature of the Indian mobile consumers, and provides insights and behaviours individually on smartphones and feature phones

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | December 22, 2016

Many interesting trends came out of the research done by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) in association with Kantar IMRB in their report titled Smartphones and Feature Phones Usage and Behaviour 2016-17 in India.

One finding was that women spend twice the time spent by men on smartphones. Also, the time spent on smartphones surpasses the time spent on any other media, including TV. The report studies the evolving nature of the Indian mobile consumers, and provides insights and behaviours individually on smartphones and feature phones.

Key findings on smartphones:

Time spent on mobile surpasses any other media

An average consumer spends three hours per day on their smartphones (an increase of 55 per cent from 2015), which surpasses time spent on TV or any other media. Social media and messaging apps were the clear leaders, accounting for almost 50 per cent of all time spent on smartphones.

Women more engaged than men

The study shows that women spend twice the time on smartphones compared to men -- on YouTube and games. They also spent 80 per cent more time on Facebook than their male counterparts.

Online shopping gains in leaps and bounds

Another finding revealed the rise of online shopping category, which now has 15 per cent higher reach than the entertainment -- making it the second most popular category in terms of reach.

Key finding on feature phones:

Prime users are from upper SECs

The study shows that a whopping 75 per cent of feature phone users were from the upper SECs, while only 25 per cent of respondents were from SEC C, D and E (NCCS).

Feature phone users don't intend to switch

A big revelation has been that almost 85 per cent feature phone users do not intend to switch to smartphones on their next purchase indicating that the functional benefits of feature phones combined with their durability, battery life and ease of repair were highly coveted by these users.

Feature phones users spend more on mobile plans

Feature phone users spend more money on their mobile plans. The ARPUs was almost 20 per cent higher compared to the national average.

Viewpoint:

D Shivakumar

D Shivakumar, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo India Holdings and Chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association said, “With over 85 per cent mobile penetration, we are today one of the largest mobile markets globally and insights on mobile usage in India are of critical importance to the modern day marketer. We are in an age now where we need to seriously think about marketing measurement and attribution, giving marketers better measurements, tools and confidence in connecting marketing to business outcomes. A thorough understanding of the differential usage and consumer segments that are using smartphones and feature phones will only help marketers use their monies more efficiently. While most designing and applications are being targeted at smartphones, this report is a wake-up call. Today, the mobile is undeniably the closest we can get to our consumers and this will help marketers understand and leverage a consumer's path to purchase.”

The insights of this study will be published in a series of industry reports that will help marketers use the medium effectively.

Preeti Desai, Country Manager, Mobile Marketing Association India, said, “Mobile is clearly the third largest mass medium in terms of ad spends in India today, with estimated spends in 2016 amounting to Rs 4,200 crore. Hence it becomes very important for the industry to have credible research and measurement guidelines and reports to help fully understand and leverage mobile's ability to drive the future growth of business. With this in mind, MMA India has collaborated with Kantar IMRB to deep-dive into the dynamics implications and impact of smartphones and feature phones in India, focusing on each category separately and giving each their due focus. The insights of this study will be published in a series of industry reports. It is a great data set for marketers to reassess and optimise their spending with the most impactful allocations in their marketing mix, while leveraging mobile with double-digit spend.”

The smartphone and feature phone reports are a step in providing an unbiased and insightful view on the evolution of mobile usage in India.

Hemant Mehta, Senior Vice-President, Media and Retail, Kantar IMRB, said, “Mobile has had an outsized influence on the way consumers interact with each other, make decisions, transact and shop. This has significantly impacted the way companies and brands connect with their consumers and do business. But we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. With the advent of 4G, reduced data costs and free voice and SMS, we expect to see even more rapid changes in the mobile landscape. It is, therefore, important to keep a continuous pulse on the way consumers interact with and use their mobile phones. Along with MMA, we at Kantar IMRB have embarked on a journey to help marketers understand the impact of these changes and to identify emerging trends.”

The report enables all members of the ecosystem to stay updated with consumer mobile trends and media consumption habits. Also at the same time, it elaborates the role of mobile as an influencer in the consumer path-to-purchase.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com