ComScore has come out with a set of data that will probably surprise you. The company found nearly 1 in 5 smartphone owners access check-in services via their mobile device. Now, lets do a bit of math here. According to an earlier study by Nielsen, US would approximately have 142.8 million total smartphone users by 2011 and 20% of that roughly accounts to about 30 million users. That’s a huge market for companies like Foursquare and Facebook and remember, we haven’t even added users from the rest of the world where growth is faster than that in US.
ComScore’s study found that 16.7 million U.S. mobile subscribers used location-based “check-in” services on their phones in March 2011, representing 7.1 percent of the entire mobile population. 12.7 million check-in users did so on a smartphone, representing 17.6 percent of the smartphone population. The study also found that check-in service users showed a high propensity for mobile media usage, including accessing retail sites and shopping guides, and displayed other characteristics of early adopters, including a stronger likelihood of owning a tablet device and accessing tech news, when compared to the average smartphone user.
“Although still in their relative infancy, location-based mobile check-in services are seeing rather impressive adoption among smartphone users,” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile. “The ability to interact with consumers on this micro-local level through special offers, deals and other incentives provides brands with the real-time opportunity to engage consumers through their mobile device.”
So Who’s Using It?
The age group of 18-34 Year Olds Account for Nearly 60 Percent of Check-In Service Users. The services include Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla which had heavy skews toward 18-24 year olds (26.0 percent) and 25-34 year olds (32.5 percent) in relation to both the total mobile audience and the overall smartphone audience. They were more likely to be full-time students (23.3 percent) when compared with total mobile (14.6 percent) or overall smartphone users (16.5 percent). Nearly half (46.4 percent) of check-in users were employed full time, slightly less than the percentage of smartphone users who were employed full time (53.3 percent). Both check-in service and smartphone users were more likely to be employed full time than overall mobile users (38.9 percent).
Mobile Check-In Service Users Are Heavy Media Consumers
The study compared an average smartphone owner with owners who check-in. It found social networking check-in users were more likely to access mobile media across a majority of content categories. More than 95 percent of check-in service users used their mobile browser or applications. Nearly 62 percent accessed news. Check-in user behavior was also consistent with that of traditional early adopters, with 40.3 percent of users accessing tech news and 28.2 percent owning a media tablet, both significantly higher than average. Check-in service users also showed a high propensity for accessing retail-related destinations on their mobile devices. Nearly one-third of users accessed online retail sites on their mobiles, while one-fourth accessed shopping guides. Check-in service users were also more likely to be exposed to mobile advertising, with nearly 40 percent recalling seeing a web or app ad during the month, compared to just 27.5 percent of smartphone users.
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