August 18th, 2008
Gaming and Entertainment Drive Mobile Internet Usage in BRIC Countries
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According to the recent Mobile Media Marketplace report from the Nielson Company (via Ashish Sinha), gaming and entertainment are the most popular categories amongst mobile internet users in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) whereas email, weather, news, and search are the top categories for both American and European mobile Internet users.
Jeff Herrmann, vice president of mobile media at Nielsen, suggests that –
In the U.S. and Europe, broad access to media and entertainment has been available for decades through a large fixed distribution infrastructure, and more recently in specialized devices like iPods, to meet consumer’s entertainment needs. Users in the growing Brazil, Russia, India, and China markets haven’t had the benefit of broad-based content distribution thereby limiting their exposure, and are filling the service gap by embracing mobile’s transition into a personal entertainment platform.
Mobile internet penetration in BRIC countries continues to lag US/ EU (10% to 16%). Still, Russia at 11.2% and China at 6.8% are far ahead of Brazil at 2.6% and India at 1.8%.
It’s interesting to note that India is the only country where neither search or news figure in the top 5 usages of mobile web. It’s equally interesting to note that China is the only country where e-mail doesn’t figure in the top five mobile web usage list.
Any ideas to explain this quirkiness in mobile web usage in India and China?
My phone-web profile is bang on American
After email and search, I still check weather on my phone (I think weather is much more top-of-mind in the West) for multiple locations. It’s too bad vodafone in India doesn’t support Google sms for local/city information. I miss that.
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[…] So, do you see social media tools being extensively used for civic engagement in developing countries like India anytime soon? Of course, before that happens, Indian (mobile) web usage will need to grow out of its gaming/ entertainment phase. […]