June 3, 2009
San Francisco, California
Nielsen Online, a division of The Nielsen Company, today announced in their Q1 2009 Canadian Mobile Internet Report, that mobile Internet adoption in Canada is reaching critical mass, with 21 percent of mobile consumers using their mobile phones to browse the Web and access their e-mail accounts.
Nielsen is the first 3rd party audience measurement company to release findings specific to the Canadian mobile market. The Canadian market is experiencing similar trends that are driving mobile internet growth in other markets – smartphone adoption, unlimited data plans and consumer advertising campaigns that drive awareness of mobile phone capabilities.
The report shows adoption in categories and sites that consumers are familiar with and leverage the immediacy of the mobile platform – portals, e-mail, weather, news and social networking are all categories that drive early adoption for mobile internet usage.
“The mobile market in Canada has grown rapidly since we first reported on the data in Q4 2008,” said Eric Puterbaugh, director, client services, Nielsen Online. “Every country has unique needs for mobile audience measurement driven by carriers, handset availability and media brands focused on their market. While we see many global media properties on the list of sites, Canadian media brands are actively extending their reach into the mobile channel.”
Highlights of the report include:
- Mobile internet penetration increased from 16 percent in Q4 2008 to 21.3 percent in Q1 2009
- There are 3.9M unique mobile internet users in Canada
- Top categories accessed via the Mobile Web include: Portals, e-mail, weather, news & current event and search
- Top mobile phone models in Canada: Apple iPhone 3G, BlackBerry 8100, LG Rumor Series, Motorola Razr V3 and Motorola KRZ R Series
- Windows Live Mail was the No. 1 Web site accessed on a Mobile phone in Q1 2009, with 1.4 million unique visitors. Google Search, Facebook, The Weather Network and Yahoo! Mail rounded out the top 5
“Accurate and reliable measurement of the mobile market in Canada is imperative as we witness tremendous growth in this space” said Jim Davis, Manager, Market Research for The Weather Network and MétéoMédia. “We’ve chosen to subscribe to the Nielsen Mobile reports because we know that they are a great first step in providing advertisers with concrete validation of the importance of this channel in media strategies.” Davis also stated, “For the first time we have a sense of how our mobile sites and applications are performing relative to other sites on the mobile Web.”
About Nielsen Online
Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, delivers comprehensive, independent measurement and analysis of online and mobile audiences, advertising, video, consumer-generated media, word of mouth, commerce and consumer behavior. With high quality, technology-driven products and services, Nielsen Online enables clients to make informed business decisions regarding their Internet, digital and mobile marketing strategies. For more information, please visit www.nielsen.com.
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing information, media information, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.
