AirG Powers Mobile Social Network To Connect 20+ Million Members; Does This Growth Mean Money For Advertisers?
Some interesting stats and user insights from AirG, a company that provides the nuts and bolts that power mobile communities across mobile operators including Verizon, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile.
Frederick Ghahramani, AirG founder, tells us (via eMarketer) that mobile social networking is a mainstream phenomenon, and uses the fact that AirG-powered communities have reached the 20 million user mark to prove his point. It’s an impressive figure, but we have to keep in mind (through Frederick’s own admission) that the market is fragmented. It will be likely be a while before mobile advertisers can achieve the reach and scale they demand for effective brand campaigns. I also miss a discussion of whether mobile social networks will appreciate mobile advertising in their private spaces and what value – if any – brands can bring to these extremely personal exchanges.
Skipping around these thorny issues Frederick focuses on the good news story in an interview via MediaPost: his company has been able to bring some order to the chaos of mobile advertising. “We’ve been able to pull different brands, markets and networks together effectively and bring it to scale,” he said. It’s interesting to note that part of AirG’s success with mobile marketers stems from the fact that the company can provide rich data on user demographics (age, location, gender and phone type) as well as attitudes and opinions through interactive surveys. Proof once again that relevancy is critical to the success of any mobile advertising strategy.
Data from AirG ’s recent WAP-based survey of 30,000 U.S. mobile community users reveals the majority of customers spend more than an hour a day in the community. Nearly 60 percent don’t own a PC. Six in 10 have at least a high school education. The average annual income is $41,000, and the five most popular handsets used to access AirG all retail for less than $100 with a service contract.
This last point is particularly interesting because it flies in the face of the current frenzy over high-end devices such as the iPhone. The reality is quite different. As Frederick observes: “Seeing past the hype associated with niche audiences like the digerati and technophile early adopters has been a crucial part of what has enabled AirG to achieve its scale of 20 million customers.”
Other highlights include:
• 75 percent of respondents reportedly prefer chatting on their phones than watching TV
• 54 percent of members described themselves as “urban,” 43 percent considered themselves middle class and 37 percent said that they were working class
• The mobile community boasts a multicultural user base: a third of users are Caucasian, 30 percent are Latino and 21 percent are African-American
The takeaway: Mobile advertisers are well advised to fine-tune their perceptions of mobile users and shift their full attention from catering to the vocal minority of early-adopters. As Frederick points out: “There is a tremendous opportunity to reach a clearly defined market of mobile social network users–we call them ‘Generation G’ in-house….And without being pejorative, it’s the 18- to-30-year-olds with service-type jobs–like the night security guard, or Starbucks employee who are connected to their mobile phone–not a white collar worker who checks their TD Ameritrade account or uses eBay via their desktop.” Tapping into the long tail of average users, so to speak, is definitely where the action is.
