COMPLACENT MARKETING
Evolution Of Mobile Marketing
By Diana Obath
The rise of the non-urban connected consumer and growth of the female gamers must be the latest trends in the era of the mobile first consumers . Mobile digital marketing has created a new generation of consumers and digital communities that remain largely misunderstood and unexplored .
They meet their daily needs from the palm of their hands and enjoy lean-in experiences plunged into their 10-inch screens . Without a word their expectations for brands are heightened and they will only engage with content that meets their needs . They are silent on direct marketing activity , but the results of their engagement can be seen in back-end data .
Mobile gaming , programmatic mobile video and personalized experiences define these consumers , and the next generation of digital and mobile marketing must discover who they are and move in their direction .
The pandemic left with it a wave of the hyperconnected consumer . It marked the growth of the mobile economy , internet users and app usage across the globe . Kenya witnessed a burst of fiber to home during this time and an increase in the number of rural internet users who spend up to 3 hours a day online . Most of the data consumption was via their smartphones , aided by competitive subscription prices , affordable handsets and more time on their hands . These enabling factors allowed users more time for online entertainment , social networks , and mobile gaming .
Mobile gaming has grown to surpass any other type of gaming in the world and now commands billions in revenue per annum . The June 2022 Data . ai report revealed that mobile gaming is on pace to generate over $ 21.4 billion during Q2 2022 alone . The analytics firm further went on to say that the revenue amassed during the Q1 2022 was a 30 % increase when compared to the same period during Q2 2019 . Total app earnings across both the App Store and Google Play store are projected to hit $ 33 billion in Q2 of 2022 .
It is evident that mobile games have evolved and are now more democratized ,
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The rise of the non-urban connected consumer and growth of the female gamers must be the latest trends in the era of the mobile first consumers . Mobile digital marketing has created a new generation of consumers and digital communities that remain largely misunderstood and unexplored . more personal , private , integrated with social networks and offer better graphical experiences . In the same manner , the persona of the gamers has also been infiltrated by women who now command the stats . Gaming has long been a male dominated field , but women seem to be enjoying online games just as much since the pandemic . Forbes Africa 30 under 30 Class of 2022 recently listed Sylvia Gathoni aka Queen Arrow as the first female Esports athlete in Kenya , testament to the growing interest of women in gaming .
Looking at the numbers , Kenya ’ s adult mobile phone penetration stands at 98 % according to the Communications Authority of Kenya , with 43 % among the adults being internet users and 96 % of these being smartphone users . 17 % use social media . Women ’ s access to mobile internet across low- and middle-income earners is at 83 % and 58 per cent use mobile internet .
According to the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2021 , it can be inferred that the female gamer is a significant persona for the marketer today because women are also more likely than men to access the internet exclusively on a mobile handset and use mobile internet for a range of activities including video calls , listening to music and watching videos .
Female mobile owners however use a narrower range of mobile services than male owners but are almost at par with male owners in terms of mobile internet adoption and the range of mobile services they use . Notably , female mobile users feel less able than male users to learn a new activity on a phone by themselves but once learnt , they show greater confidence and stickability in being able to do it again in
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