Announcing The Mobile Consumer: African Americans, Movies & Mobile, A New Report by MocoSpace and Briabe Mobile

More than any other ethnic demographic, African Americans use mobile phones to make movie plans
 
LOS ANGELES / BOSTON – February 29, 2012 – African Americans are not only an important demographic of the US movie going population, but they are at the forefront of a new trend of using mobile phones to guide movie selection. 
 
African Americans attend movies more frequently than other ethnic demographics, including Hispanics and Caucasians. Now, research from a new study is showing that African Americans are more active than other demographics in using their mobile devices to find theaters, movie times and reviews.  This insight comes from a survey of more than 1100 Americans who participated in research for a new report titled The Mobile Consumer: African Americans, Movies & Mobile. The study was conducted on MocoSpace’s diverse network of users, in partnership with multicultural mobile agency Briabe Mobile.
 
Based on the results from a June 2011 survey, the study revealed that 66% of African Americans go to the movie theater at least once a month, and 19% see movies three times a month - and they are relying on their mobile phone in the movie selection process. The vast majority - seventy percent - of African Americans surveyed used their phone to help choose a movie within 8 hours of actually attending the movie.
 
Another key finding of the survey is that African Americans use their phones for almost every part of the film-discovery process. Sixty-eight percent use their mobile devices for overall movie planning. Of those:

o   69% use their mobile devices to find show times and locations;
o   35% use it to view trailers;
o   34% use it to get reviews; and
o   28% use it to discover movies.

The study also revealed that mobile ads are extremely effective with this demographic. African American consumers are more likely to take action as a result of mobile advertising than any other ethnic group. Survey participants were asked: ‘When using your mobile device what influences you to see a movie?’ and 41% of African Americans reported that that mobile ads influence their decision. Comparatively, 40% of Hispanics claimed that mobile ads influenced them, while only 31% of the general market said the same. 
 
Of the mobile ad types, mobile search ads saw the greatest response; 45% of African Americans said mobile search ads influenced their decision, with mobile banner ads coming in second at 39% and 28% saying SMS ads made them want to see a film.
 
“The African American demographic has proven to be early adopters in many areas of mobile - from social networking to gaming to entertainment. With smartphone penetration growing rapidly, we expect to see these already high levels of engagement increase even more this year,” says Justin Siegel, CEO and co-founder of MocoSpace.
 
As movie studios look to boost their box office, this data illustrates that African Americans are a driving force for ticket sales.  The mobile device and mobile media is a huge opportunity for advertisers and marketers to engage this audience and drive them to theatres.
 
“This report provides invaluable insights for the entertainment industry and marketers,” states Briabe Mobile CEO James Briggs, “as it highlights the immense opportunity of leveraging mobile strategies to attract African American movie-goers.”
 
Interested parties can download the full report at:  The Mobile Consumer: African Americans, Movies & Mobile.

About Briabe Mobile
Briabe Mobile, Inc., is an award-winning full-service, multicultural mobile marketing agency. Since 2005, Briabe Mobile has been the leader in innovative, targeted mobile marketing and advertising campaigns that help brands capture and engage their diverse consumer audiences – including Hispanic, Asian and African American ethnic groups – using mobile devices.  Briabe Mobile helps brands leverage mobile platforms to connect with their target customers via unique solutions and campaigns that complement their existing marketing efforts.  For more information, visit www.briabemobile.com or follow us at http://twitter.com/briabemobile.

About MocoSpace
MocoSpace is the largest HTML5 mobile gaming community in North America, with twenty-five million registered users. Every day, users spend more than one million hours on MocoSpace, and one million games are played. For a young, multicultural, on-the go generation, MocoSpace is the mobile community of choice for playing games, making friends, having fun and staying connected. MocoSpace is free and available on any Web-enabled mobile phone in the world. Launched in 2005, MocoSpace is based in Boston, Mass., and is backed by General Catalyst and Softbank Capital. For more information, visit www.jnjmobile.com
Follow MocoSpace on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mocospace

CONTACTS:

MocoSpace:
Rachael Himsel Nunez
VSCpr for MocoSpace
rachael@vscconsulting.comvscpr.com
415.677.9125 x 257


Briabe Mobile
Meeta Chawla
Meeta.chawla@briabemobile.com   
310.694.3283
 

Contact Information

Rachael Himsel Nunez

Publicist

VSCpr for MocoSpace

Contact via E-mail