5 December 2014

Seven in 10 Singapore mobile users click intentionally on mobile ads

Source: Yahoo, Mindshare.


Yahoo and Mindshare have announced that brands have a good opportunity to connect with target audiences when they use mobile devices. The findings are part of a joint study titled Creating Brand Connections across Devices for the Singapore market.

David Jeffs, Head of Insights, India & South-East Asia, Yahoo said, “Singaporeans are among the most gadget-savvy people in the world, with an average user spending a whopping 3.7 hours a day on mobile devices for personal use. Yahoo and Mindshare conducted this study to gain deeper insights into user behaviour, and the findings show that the mobile platform presents a clear opportunity for brands to educate and engage the connected consumer. The mobile is playing an increasingly important role in building meaningful brand experiences with consumers.”

Deepika Nikhilender, Leader, Business Planning, Mindshare Asia Pacific said, “Today brands need to optimise their campaigns keeping in view mobility and cross-device engagement. Users want mobile advertising to be relevant to the way they use the devices. The smart device is playing a key role in the path to purchase in a consumer journey. Brands need to evolve creative and innovative strategies to leverage this phenomenon and change behaviour, as this device grows in its influence in the last mile.”

This year’s study covers Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, building upon learnings garnered last year from the same study conducted in India, Indonesia and China. In this year’s study there is increased focus on the role mobile plays in the consumer’s path to purchase.

Key findings include:

1. The top 5 needs from Singapore users that are fulfilled by mobile devices:

a) Leisure activity: 72%
b) Catch up on news: 62%
c) Stay in touch: 61%
d) Morning Ritual: 60%
e) Entertainment: 38%

2. Communication and content consumption followed by entertainment and gaming are the top daily activities for Singaporean smartphone and tablet users.

3. Users in Singapore are avid readers of local news followed by breaking/international news. Female users tend to prefer content on celebrity gossip and beauty, whereas male users' preferences skew towards sports and business news.

4. On average a Singapore smartphone user reads or watches more than six genres of content throughout the day.

5. Video content consumption is hugely popular on mobile devices:

a) Bite-sized videos of three to five minutes in length are popular for users in the mornings, while long form video content is preferred later in the day.
b) Almost a third (35%) of users, have watched at least one video on their smartphones of over 20 minutes in duration.
c) Women users prefer to watch TV shows and comedy videos while men consume more sports and local news.

6. Gaming, chatting/IM and creating alarms, notes and reminders are most popular smartphone activity via apps amongst Singaporean users.

7. While smartphone usage remains consistent through the day, the primetime slot of 8 to 11 pm is device-stacked with PCs and tablets also being used. This offers brands with opportunities to integrate their campaigns across multiple screens. During this period, users were: 

a) Sending instant messages
b) Social networking
c) Playing games
d) Reading content

8. A phenomenal 87% of the surveyed users use their mobile devices for conducting pre-purchase research. This implies a paradigm shift in terms of information flow, showing that users are actively engaging with brands on their mobile devices even before buying the product. Eight in ten (81%) of the surveyed users in Singapore did pre-purchase research on their mobile devices on consumer electronics 
followed by research on fashion (clothes and shoes) at 74% and 67% on financial services.

9. Mobile devices are increasingly being used in the entire consumer journey of the brand especially in the path to purchase i.e. from pre-purchase to post-purchase.

a) 81% users conducted research on consumer electronics before the actual purchase.
b) 74% carried out activities 
in-store like comparing prices, and checking the availability of the consumer electronics product.
c) 46% continue to engage with a brand after the purchase, with activities like sharing photos/ video of the product they bought, recommendations, writing a review etc.

10. M-commerce seems on the rise with 72% using mobile devices for banking transactions and 74% for making some form of online purchase. Mobile advertising is also seeing positive engagement with 70% of the users intentionally clicking on the mobile ads.

11. A mobile user in Singapore says the ‘ideal’ mobile advertisement is about:

a) Promotions/ discount coupons: 61%
b) Rewards via ad interactions: 36%
c) Teaching something new: 29%
d) Keeping him or her up to date: 28%
e) Fun/ providing a short break: 23%

*The report is based on research about user behaviour across devices - smart phones, tablets and PCs and highlights cross-device usage, time spent on mobile devices, top daily activities, genres of content consumed, and emerging trends on mobile video, gaming and entertainment.