College Hoops and Major League Baseball Lift Smartphone Sports Apps

COLUMBIA, Md., April 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Use of sports apps by members of the Arbitron Mobile smartphone panel has been climbing steadily since their post-Super Bowl, mid-winter doldrums, thanks to the NCAA Tournament and opening days of the regular season of Major League Baseball.

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In the two weeks following the NFL championship game on February 3, use of mobile sports apps by men, age 18 and older in the Arbitron panel, plummeted from 12.9 percent to 10.0 percent.

Starting the week of March 10, as fans starting filling out their brackets for the NCAA Tourney, use of mobile sports apps boomed, reaching 13.7 percent of men, age 18 and older during the week of the "Elite 8" and the opening games of Major League Baseball.

Men 35-44 Are the Most Avid Users of Mobile Sports Apps

It's no surprise that sports app users are predominantly male. Slightly more than twelve percent (12.4 percent) of the Persons age 18 and older in the Arbitron Mobile smartphone panel use sports apps; by gender—18.4 percent of the men 18+ in the panel use mobile sports apps versus only 6.0 percent of the women 18+. Compared to men, the women who do use sports apps log on for fewer sessions (14.8 per month vs. 32.8 per month) and spend far less time with mobile sports apps (34.4 minutes per month vs. 63.8 minutes per month for men).

Men, age 35-44, are the most avid users of mobile sports apps in the Arbitron Mobile smartphone panel, representing the largest share of users within a demographic—22.8 percent, and the most time spent with mobile sports apps—77.1 minutes per month.  Men, age 25-34 who use mobile sports apps, do check in with their app most often—42.1 sessions per month.

U.S. Arbitron Mobile Trends Panels™ Service, March 2013

About Arbitron Mobile

Arbitron Mobile Oy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arbitron Inc., uses a proprietary, on-device software meter to provide marketers, the media, content providers, app developers, and wireless access suppliers with information on how mobile consumers use apps, surf the web, engage in social media, participate in e-commerce, and employ their devices to communicate.

For more information, contact: [email protected] or visit the Arbitron Mobile website.

Available insights into the behavior of smartphone users in the Arbitron Mobile panels are included in previous releases regarding social media use, mobile VoIP use, and mobile data consumption.

About Arbitron

Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research firm serving the media–radio, television, cable and out-of-home; the mobile industry; as well as advertising agencies and advertisers around the world.

U.S. Arbitron Mobile Trends Panels™, Portable People Meter™, PPM^®, and PPM 360™ are marks of Arbitron Inc.

SOURCE Arbitron Inc.