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More men than women use their mobile devices to choose movies and watch trailers, according to a new study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the mobile technology company InMobi.
A “Mobile and the Movies” survey of 373 people with devices powered by Android and Apple’s iOS, among other mobile platforms, and conducted in August and September, revealed that 40 percent of male respondents were more likely to view trailers on their devices versus 27 percent of female respondents.
In addition, 71 percent of men said they used their phone to help them choose a film, versus 69 percent of women, and more men than women said they checked social media to see what people thought about a film (38 versus 33 percent).
“The male demographic is coveted by movie marketers,” said Anna Bager, vp and general manager of IAB’s Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence. “This study clearly shows that mobile is a crucial pathway for movie studios to reach men, whether they are promoting the latest action flick or a serious drama.”
The study also showed that 31 percent of survey respondents said they saw a trailer on their mobile phone in the past six months, and when asked whether they viewed ads before trailers, 83 percent said they had with 61 percent watching the ad to the end in order to get to the trailer. Sixty-seven percent of men are more likely to view a pre-trailer ad versus 58 percent of women, according to the study.
Meanwhile, of respondents who go to the movies at least once a month (31 percent), one in five said they always use their phones to choose a film versus less frequent moviegoers (48 percent) and those who don’t go to the movies at all (21 percent).
Twenty-four percent of regular moviegoers said they purchased tickets via their mobile devices in the past six months, compared with seven percent of infrequent moviegoers. And 19 percent of the former “checked in” to films and theaters using social media channels such as Foursquare versus seven percent of the latter.
Joe Laszlo, senior director of IAB’s Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, observed that “only a few people are buying tickets by phone these days, and certainly, very few people are using virtual tickets on their mobile device. So I think that’s an area where I expect to see a lot of growth in the next couple years — so mobile goes from being a primary research tool for consumers to being also a transactional and ticket-replacement tool as well.”
He added: “That’s an opportunity that both theater owners and movie marketers are going to be able to really seize on.”
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