| 11/17/09 - JiWire released its second Mobile Audience Insights
Report with new information on Wi-Fi usage trends for Q3 2009. The report
also includes findings from a survey among Wi-Fi customers in airports
across the U.S., helping advertisers understand this unique segment of the
on-the-go audience that largely consists of affluent business decision
makers.
The study found that airport business travelers are connecting via Wi-Fi
for a significant amount of time: Eighty-one percent spend over 30 minutes
online while waiting for their flight, and 32 percent spend over an hour
online.
Seventy-two percent of the airport audience is business travelers with
highly desirable demographics:
- Fifty percent travel at least once a month.
- Over half hold an executive or management position.
- Over half have annual household incomes of over $100,000.
- Seventy-five percent of all airport Wi-Fi customers plan to make a big-
ticket purchase in the next 12 months.
"Business travelers are a highly coveted audience for both business and
consumer-oriented advertisers due to their purchasing power, but are
traditionally very difficult to reach," said David Staas, senior vice
president, marketing of JiWire. "Our latest Insights report provides more
in-depth information for marketers about this nationwide audience, as well
as highlighting global trends as Wi-Fi continues to become the preferred
method for on-the-go connectivity."
Mobile devices
Continuing the trend seen in the first half of the year, the use of mobile
devices to connect to Wi-Fi locations grew 75 percent in Q3. The top mobile
devices remain the iPhone and iPod Touch, which combined make up about 95
percent of mobile ad requests. Devices built on the
Android-operating system emerged in the number four spot, while the Palm
Pre continued to see growth and remained ranked at number five, similar to
last quarter.
Public Wi-Fi locations on the rise
The report shows the overall number of public Wi-Fi locations is growing
rapidly, with 18.8 percent year-to-date expansion in worldwide public Wi-Fi
hotspot locations. In the last five years, the number of Wi-Fi locations
has grown by 425 percent.
In addition to growth in locations, people are using Wi-Fi on an increasing
basis, with visits to U.S. locations increasing 11.4 percent quarter over
quarter. Hotels continue to have the largest amount of Wi-Fi visits with
65.5 percent market share, while airports were the quickest growing venue
in Q3 2009, with visits up 23.2 percent over last quarter.
| 
