jeudi 31 décembre 2015

Mobile while mobile. Public transportation users are addicted to digital


What do people do while traveling?

In October 2015, Médiamétrie conducted a survey among 2043 Internet users from the Paris region (Ile-de-France). The access panel was representative of the area's population (quotas: age, geography, sex and profession). The survey was sponsored by MediaTransports and the University of Paris Dauphine (the chair of digital economy).
The Paris region is particularly interesting as it is well-known for offering all transportation solutions: buses, commuter trains, tramways and subway system (an exceptionally dense network of train lines, with 300 stations). The RATP (Paris public transport company) carries 3 billion passengers a year (mostly "franciliens" and tourists). On average, passengers spend one and a half hours every day in transportation (source: IXXI / RATP). This travel time is a major opportunity for media, especially digital media. How do passengers take advantage of this (almost) free time?
  • Which media do passengers use while mobile?  Their mobile as a medium of the media (media mediorum)!
47% use a smartphone
37% read papers or magazines (paper) N.B. Free newspapers are distributed in the subway stations
35% read books (paper)

The results of the survey show little difference in media behavior between men and women, although women are more prone to read books and men are more likely to use tablets or laptops. Everybody is multitasking.
  • What do passengers do with their screens?
74% write / read texts
49% write / read mail
45% visit social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
39% make phone calls
38% use online services (weather, banking)
27.3% use maps
27% read online papers or magazines

The laptop is mostly used for work or off-line video and mail. The tablet is used for games or off-line videos. Depending on the connection quality people are off- or online (music, video, games).
Most often offline for the time being:

Music:  offline  38.7%   online 18.5%
Video games : offline 38.4%  online 22.2%
Video : offline 14.2% online 18.2%
  • What if...
Survey participants were asked what they would do if there were a good Internet connection (broadband, Wi-Fi). People say that they would use it for mail, search, social media and online videos.

Four out of ten people declare they would most likely interact with posters or DOOH screens in the subway corridors and on platforms or in train stations. What for? To take advantage of promotions, reductions, coupons, and to buy theater or concert tickets. But can they imagine what they would do if there were a broadband connection?

All in all, what can we conclude from this survey?

Digital media are already changing the time spent in transportation; passengers do not kill time, they use it. And better connections would improve the quality of this time, both leisure and work (productivity apps). Transportation is becoming a personalized mass media. People find themselves is different positions in public transportation: standing, sitting, crushed and packed together, walking - allowing or not allowing different activities: reading, using phones, listening with headphones. They maximize under constraint.
With one and half hours spent daily (and a strong prime time), transportation is becoming a real medium, digital and multi-platform: it is still mostly an opportunity for "wait marketing" ("économie de l'ennui") but it is bound to become something more than that. Screens and posters with supervised LED could easily become interactive, opening opportunities for e-commerce and, furthermore, for the  development of a "smart city".
MediaTransports, the advertising sales rep, should be able to orchestrate this complete set of advertising tools with data (leaving room for an efficient DMP).

1 commentaire:

Rita M a dit…

I find really interesting the answer of the survey's participants to the question "What would you do if there were a good internet connection?". Actually, I'm not sure people really know what they would do. Imagine if we have asked them 5 years ago what they would like to do in their free time, would they have answered "playing at mind-numbing games like Candy Crush"? Not sure.
Innovators often try to fit with the evolution of the consumers' uses, but sometimes it's the consumers' uses that follow the innovation, and I think the answer to the survey's question will depend on how brands will deal with it and the User Experience they will provide.

However, the consumption of video contents on mobile will probably rise in the next few years with the broadband's enhancement . I've been to Shanghai 2 years ago, and I was strongly impressed by the fact that everyone is watching series and other video contents in the subway. Still, the difference between Paris and Shanghai - except the slow internet connection - is the surface area: Shanghai is 6340 km2 while Paris is 105,4 km2. Therefore, the distance between 2 subway stations in Paris is approximately 2km while it is more than 15km in Shanghai. People spend a lot of time in the Shangainese subway, so they have enough time to watch video contents.

Regarding the slow connection matter, I believe that the LIFI could solve it. This technology, which permits data transmission through light emitting diodes, has a bandwidth 10.000 times larger than the WIFI one and it enables us to download an HD movie in 0,3sec.

Finally, I completely agree with the statement "Transportation is becoming a personal mass media". The Digital Out Of Home advertising will necessarily increase in the next few years. As a matter of fact, Outfront Media announced last month that they developed a Marketing solution for mobile using geolocation.