Fastest Way to Reach Millennials is on Their Smartphones

MFour Mobile Research obtained 1,000 validated responses within two hours from Millennials on the million-member active panel using the Surveys on the Go® smartphone app. The 30-question survey covered entertainment, money & finance and technology & lifestyles.

Here are the key insights on the use of smartphones and other computing devices by Millennials:

• 93.2% say they keep their smartphones on their persons or nearby at least 10 hours per day
• 92.3% use their smartphones at least several times per day compared to 32.1% for laptops
• 44.9% spend at least five hours per day on their smartphones compared to 23.3% who spend five or more hours on a desktop or laptop
• 87.1% have a laptop
• 71.4% have a tablet
• 45.2% still own a desktop
• 3.8% use their smartphones less than an hour per day
• 26.3% use laptops and/or desktops less than an hour per day
• 30% are now using wearable devices such as smart watches at least once per day
• 88.7% check text messages the moment they come in
• 41.2% check social media notifications as soon as they come in
• 35.3% open e-mail right away
• 51% check their apps' push notifications at least once an hour
• 50.7% use four to six different apps per day
• 61% rank advice from family and friends as the biggest influence for downloading new apps followed by social media (60.4%) and Apple & Google's app stories (56.7%)
• 33.6% cited in-app advertising as most likely to influence them to buy new apps compared to 23.4% who said ads on T.V., radio or in print media helped them discover new apps
• 67.6% of women were likely to use social media to discover new apps to dowload compared to 53.2% of men

Responses reflected U.S. Millennials’ demographic profile: 50% male, 50% female; 56% Caucasian, 19% Hispanic/Latino, 14% African American/Black, 5% Asian, 1% each for Middle Eastern, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans/Alaskans; 3% Other. Age brackets were 18-24 (36%), 25-29 (31%) and 30-36 (33%). The study also segmented respondents by whether they were parents of children under 18, their type of work (full-time blue collar and white collar, part-time, unemployed), and their income (six brackets from $25,000 or less to $100,000 or more).