More than 100M Americans viewed Mobile Ads in Q3 2008.

Limbo and GfK Technology released their latest joint Mobile Advertising Report (MAR). The third quarter report reveals that mobile advertising awareness grew 33 percent in nine months against a backdrop of six percent growth in cell phone usage. This suggests an increased allocation of advertising dollars to mobile formats through the first nine months of the year.

“In economic slowdowns, advertisers typically divert budgets from branding media to direct marketing channels and it appears that mobile media is benefiting from this in 2008,” says Limbo CEO Jonathon Linner. “Mobile offers advertisers a way to reach their core audience in an interactive and cost-effective medium. We anticipate these numbers will continue to grow as more and more advertisers experience firsthand the benefits of mobile advertising.”

Nearly four out of ten Americans with a cell phone (104 million) recall seeing advertising on the device between July and September 2008. This is the first time the number of Americans aware of mobile advertising has exceeded 100 million in a 3-month period. The most commonly viewed ads were in text messages – 60 million consumers recalled seeing text message-based ads – an increase of 42 percent in nine months. Mobile Web advertising also grew strongly, but with 31 million people recalling this format, it has about half the reach of text messaging ads.

The profile of people recalling mobile advertising offers few surprises:

* 57 percent male, 43 percent female
* 52 percent are between 35-64 years of age, 28 percent are aged 50 and above and just 43 percent are under 34
* Their ethnic profile is also similar to the US population – 68 percent Caucasian, 20 percent African American and 12 percent Hispanic

“The US is the world’s dominant advertising market but has traditionally been behind Asian and European markets in terms of consumer use of mobile devices. The latest Mobile Advertising Report shows that US consumers are accelerating their use of the mobile device and advertisers are hot on their tails, using the new medium to reach consumers in pioneering ways,” says Colin Strong, head of Mobile Communications Research at GfK Technology.

For more information at http://www.gfknop.com/technology>