Americans Only Answer Half of All Calls They Receive on their Mobile Phones

New Hiya "State of the Phone Call" Report Reveals Three in Four Unidentified Calls go Unanswered; 26.3B Robocalls Were Made to U.S. Mobile Phones in 2018

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Hiya

Jan 29, 2019, 08:00 ET

SEATTLE, Jan. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hiya, the industry leader in nuisance and scam call protection, today unveiled insight into how Americans are using their mobile phones given the rise in robocalls. Based on a subset of 11 billion calls analyzed monthly, Hiya found that only 52 percent of all calls Americans receive on their phones are answered, which means that almost half of calls are sent to voicemail. And when the call comes from an unidentified number, the statistic rises with more than three in four (76%) calls going unanswered. Yet, in a surprising twist, 9 percent of calls that have been identified as spam are picked up, which is a staggering amount considering that, according to Hiya, a total of 26.3 billion robocalls were made to American phones in 2018, up 46% from the previous year's total of 18 billion.

In this analysis, Hiya examined a month's worth of phone calls. On average, a person receives 114 calls per month. Of those calls, more than half – specifically, 62 calls per month – are from numbers not saved in their contacts, which may include spam or scam calls, calls from a business, and those from an unknown number.

"As our phones continue to be inundated by robocalls, many people no longer want to pick up the phone at all. However, that leads to us missing important calls, such as those from our doctor, our child's school, the bank, and others," said Alex Algard, CEO of Hiya. "By combining industry-leading spam detection with a solution that ensures calls from legitimate businesses are properly identified, it's our mission to make sure Americans can confidently answer their phone again."

Some key findings from Hiya's first the State of the Phone Call report, in addition to results from the 2018 End of Year Robocall Radar report include:

Average calls per month:

On average, people make and receive a total of 215 calls per month
Of those 215 total calls, 114 are calls received and 101 are calls made
Of those calls, 61 of them are from numbers "not saved to contacts"

Average incoming call pick-up rates:

52% of all calls received are answered
70% of calling numbers that are "saved in contacts" are answered
53% of calls identified with a business name are answered
24% of unidentified calls are answered
9% of calls identified as spam are answered

Typical duration of phone calls:

Spam calls: 11 seconds
Unidentified calls: 35 seconds
Identified calls from businesses: 54 seconds
Calls from a user's contact list: 1 minute and 39 seconds

Top business industries calling mobile phones:

Health Care: doctor's offices, hospitals, pharmacies
Government: schools, government agencies
Insurance: home, life, health, auto
Financial Services: banks, credit unions, debt collectors
Automotive: car dealerships, car repair

Robocall stats and spam trends:

Total number of robocalls placed in 2018: 26.3 billion
Total number of robocalls placed in Q4 2018: 8 billion
Growth in Robocalls in 2018: 46% percent
Average number of monthly unwanted calls received per person: 10

For more details from the State of the Phone Call Report, please click here.

To view Hiya's End of the Year Robocall Radar Report, which includes top unwanted call categories, top phone scams, top area codes targeted by spammers, and more, please click here.

Hiya is available for free on iTunes and Google Play. To learn more about Hiya, visit www.hiya.com.

About Hiya
Hiya is revolutionizing the way people make and receive phone calls. With a mission to provide a better phone experience, Hiya Caller and Business Profiles provide users with important context, giving them the right information at the right time. Through analysis of more than 10 billion calls per month, Hiya protects over 50 million users from unwanted robo and spam calls globally. Hiya is available as a consumer app on Google Android and iPhone and is integrated into the phone experience for AT&T Call Protect, T-Mobile Name ID, ZTE Axon 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S8, Galaxy Note8, Galaxy S9, and all A-Series and J-Series users worldwide. For more information, please visit www.hiya.com.

SOURCE Hiya