Video Makes it Big on the Small Screen in Europe

*On-Demand Programme Viewing on Mobile Devices Grows 99 Percent in Past Year*

LONDON, U.K., 29 September, 2010 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from its comScore MobiLens service showing that the number of people viewing video on mobile devices has increased 66 percent in the past year to 12.1 million mobile consumers across the EU5 countries (U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Italy).

The U.K. and Italy each boast 2.7 million mobile video consumers, up 75 percent from July 2009 in the U.K. market and up 55 percent in the Italian market. Spain is demonstrating the fastest growth, with mobile video consumption up 90 percent in the past year to 1.7 million subscribers.

Mobile TV/Video Consumption by European Country
July 2010 vs. July 2009 (3 Month Avg.)
Total EU5 (U.K., DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
  Mobile Subscribers Who Watched TV/Video On Mobile Phone Ever In Month (000)
  Jul-09 Jul-10 % Change
EU5 7,292 12,122 66 %
U.K. 1,553 2,712 75 %
Italy 1,750 2,711 55 %
France 1,684 2,570 53 %
Germany 1,416 2,438 72 %
Spain 890 1,691 90 %

On-Demand in High Demand

On-demand video/TV programming in particular experienced substantial growth in the past year, up 99 percent since July 2009, with 5.2 million mobile owners across Europe viewing such content. Viewing broadcast TV programming is also on the rise, up 70 percent to 3.5 million subscribers.

Mobile TV/Video Consumption
July 2010 vs. July 2009 (3 Month Avg.)
Total EU5 (U.K., DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
  Mobile Subscribers Who Watched TV/Video On Mobile Phone (000)
Jul-2009 Jul-2010 % Change
Total Audience: 13+ yrs old 226,500 230,500 N/A
Watched TV and/or video on mobile phone ever in month 7,292 12,122 66%
Watched any programmed mobile TV/video 4,265 7,819 83%
Watched Broadcast TV programming 2,041 3,469 70%
Watched On-demand video or TV programming 2,630 5,224 99%
Watched any TV/video sideloaded to phone 4,082 6,210 52%

“The era of ‘video-on-the-go’ has finally arrived,” says comScore European VP Mobile, Jeremy Copp. “We’ve seen major developments throughout the mobile space – in networks, in devices and in software and applications – and now we’re seeing the result: a rapidly growing audience of consumers accessing video on their mobiles, be it broadcast, on-demand or sideloaded.” 

Smartphones Drive Mobile Video Trend

Across the EU5 countries, two out of every three people who viewed mobile TV/video were smartphone owners. In the U.K. 80.2 percent were smartphone owners to lead all EU5 countries, followed by Spain (71.7 percent) and France (67.7 percent).

Mobile TV/Video Consumption on Smartphones
July 2010 (3 Month Avg.)
Total EU5 (U.K., DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
  Smartphone Subscribers Who Watched TV/Video On Mobile Phone (000) Proportion of Total Viewers viewing on Smartphone (%)
EU5 8,208 67.7 %
U.K. 2,174 80.2 %
Italy 1,752 64.6 %
France 1,741 67.7 %
Germany 1,329 54.5 %
Spain 1,212 71.7 %

“Smartphone owners are clearly driving the mobile video trend, an indication that more growth is on the horizon as an increasing number of smartphones hit the market,” Mr. Copp continued. “We’ve also seen that recent releases such as Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab are designed to offer an incredible video experience, and when coupled with services such as the BBC iPlayer for mobile, make this an extremely interesting sector to watch.”  

July 2010 European Mobile Benchmark Data

Below are comScore’s July 2010 benchmark data, including a review of mobile consumption behaviours and device penetration for five EU countries. These benchmark data are published by comScore on a monthly basis to provide the most up-to-date snapshot of the mobile industry. Further information on these benchmark data, and other data included above, can be provided upon request.

Mobile Benchmark Data for the European Market
3 Month Average Ending July 2010
Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
  Reach (%) of Mobile Subscribers

EU5 U.K. France Germany Italy Spain
Sent text message to another phone 82.5% 90.6% 80.7% 80.7% 78.6% 81.4%
Used application [including games] 35.7% 41.8% 25.9% 35.3% 38.6% 37.1%
Used browser 26.2% 37.4% 25.1% 21.1% 23.7% 23.6%
Listened to music on mobile phone 24.6% 23.6% 21.1% 26.8% 22.2% 30.5%
Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog 15.3% 24.6% 14.0% 9.3% 15.0% 13.6%
Accessed news and information 29.9% 37.1% 27.9% 24.1% 32.6% 27.8%
Smartphone [Platform] 26.4% 28.5% 19.3% 20.3% 34.1% 31.9%
3G Subscribers [Device Generation] 45.3% 44.6% 40.8% 41.8% 46.6% 56.0%

*Source: comScore

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