In what is billed as the "first definitive metrics for mobile advertising,"M:Metrics found that a sizable percentage of mobile subscribers are responding to short codes placed in advertisements or other media.
Of the five countries surveyed, Spain topped the list with 29% of mobile users responding to ads, followed by the UK at 18.5% and France at 10%. The US and Germany were both under 10%.
"These numbers are not unlike what we saw in e-mail response during the mid-1990's as the Web emerged [as] an advertising medium," said Will Hodgman, CEO of M:Metrics.
Contests — such as game or reality television shows or chances to win free merchandise — were the leading driver of responses, with 18 million subscribers across the geographies reporting they participated.
Again, Spain showed the highest rate of participation, at 18%, followed by the UK and France, with the US and Germany lagging.
Not surprisingly, the number of subscribers receiving SMS ads is growing.
In Spain, 67% of mobile subscribers reported receiving an SMS ad, with France at 50%, followed by the UK, Germany and the US, where slightly less than 13% of SMS users reported receiving ads.
The largest source of the ads, by a wide margin, were the mobile operators themselves.
"Remember the early days of the Internet, when spam was still a meat by-product?" said Mr. Hodgman. "At that time your Internet service provider was the major commercial e-mailer in promoting their services. It appears that the mobile operator is functioning in the same capacity today on mobile. It will not be long before brand advertisers supersede the mobile operators, though, given the robust activity and consumer response rates we are already seeing in the medium after only a few years of the existence of common short codes."
For more information on where mobile text message marketing is heading, read eMarketer's new report, Mobile Message Marketing: Cash Not Flash. Click here to be notified when it is released.