Many reports indicate 19 out of every 20 adults in Ireland now own a mobile phone. This provides an opportunity for businesses to advertise their business and connect with their audience on a more personal level.
At VIMAR (1), our team is always ready to help your business grow. In this brief article, we have delved into mobile phone usage in Ireland, so you can get a glimpse of the potential that is out there for your business.
1. Mobile Subscriptions
By the end of 2019, there were about 4.7 million mobile subscribers, which represented around 98% of the population. This confirms the fact that Ireland might be on the brink of saturation levels as far as mobile phone ownership levels are concerned.
If you are in the business of selling phone accessories then, this should be great news. But it should also be great news for every other industry. The number of people using mobile devices only increases your audience and those you can advertise to.
2. Smart Phone Ownership
A ComReg survey indicated that nearly every adult in Ireland had a mobile phone (around 96% of the population). Approximately 84% of all the mobile phones owned in Ireland were smartphones. According to the report, 47% of people aged 65 and above owned a smartphone. Around 3.94 million people in Ireland actively used their smartphones to access the internet (active mobile internet users).
These numbers allow us to delve deeper into demographics such as age and sex.
3. Average Time Spent on the Internet
In January 2019, a Hootsuite survey indicated that users spent nearly six hours every day using the internet (5h 54m), on mobile phones, computers, laptops, and other devices.
The survey also indicated they spent nearly two hours of that time on social media (1h 53m) as compared to an average of 2h 56m watching TV (on-demand videos, streaming, and broadcast media).
4. Internet Connection Speeds
According to a 2019 Deloitte analysis, there were around 4.7 million mobile subscribers using 3G/4G by June 2019. The average mobile internet connection speed was 22.05MBps while fixed internet connections had an average speed of 53.77MBps.
While the impact of the expected rollout of 5G across Ireland is still unknown, the fifth generation of mobile technology, which reportedly provides internet speeds of up to 1GBps, is set to impact both consumers and businesses.
5. Social Media Usage
In January 2019, a Hootsuite survey revealed that an estimated 3.20 million people in Ireland were active social media (2) users with around 98% of them indicating that they had used, visited or contributed to a social media network or messaging platform in the month preceding the survey.
The survey revealed that every internet user in Ireland had an average of 7.9 social media accounts (both active and inactive). YouTube was the most popular social media platform, with Facebook, WhatsApp, FB Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Skype making up the rest of the top 10 most active platforms in the country.
6. Total Social Media Advertising Audiences
According to Hootsuite, Facebook had the largest advertising audience in Ireland, measured in terms of active monthly active users within the country. There were 2.9 million monthly active Facebook users as of January 2019, followed by 1.8 million active users on Instagram, 1.7 million active users on Snapchat, and 1.23 million active users on Twitter.
Active users constitute the total number of users that can be reached or addressed through advertising. The survey report also indicated that out of the reported 2.9 million active Facebook users, 74% of them (adults aged 13 and older) could be reached by adverts on the social media site. Slightly more females (54%) could be reached by Facebook ads compared to males (46%).
Around 46% of Instagram’s 1.8 million monthly active users (adults aged 13 and older), 43% of Snapchat’s 1.7 million active monthly users, and 31% percent of Twitter’s 1.23 million monthly active users could be reached by ads. Only Twitter had a higher male reach in their advertising audience (58%) compared to all the other major social media platforms.
The explosion in mobile phone usage, especially smartphones over the past decade has made marketing and advertising much more competitive and interesting.
Should you see an opportunity or want to know how we can help, contact VIMAR (3) today.
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