Digital marketing intelligence agency comScore has released data that shows almost a quarter of mobile phone users in Europe listen to music on their handsets; a total of 54 million people in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Of those 54 million music consumers in the EU5 countries, 42% have a smartphone (compared to a 25% average amongst all mobile users).
Spain has the most mobile music lovers; 30% of mobile users. Germany follows and the UK is in third place with 22.6% penetration. As a contrast, usage in the USA is just 13.2% of the mobile population.
19.4% of mobile users in the UK 'sideload' their music from their PC to the mobile, 2.2% buy their music as ringtones and 2.1% download music directly to their handsets. That means almost a million people in the UK have downloaded music to their phones this year, a figure that's up 39% on 2009.
Alistair Hill, senior analyst at comScore, said "Despite rapid growth in mobile music downloaders in Europe, the total addressable market in the EU5 is still quite small. However we see a significant untapped advertising opportunity for music publishers and promoters. People who listen to music on their phones are more likely to browse the Internet and almost half own smartphones. The high penetration of smartphones and likelihood to browse shows how ideal this audience is for targeted mobile advertising. The mobile channel offers an opportunity to get in front of consumers at one of their primary access points for music consumption."