Smartphones will play a crucial role as the FIFA World Cup is underway in Brazil. A study revealed nearly half of respondents monitoring the soccer tournament will use smartphones for the games' latest information.

The study "2014 World Cup: A Global Mobile Perspective," from Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and conducted by On Device Research, revealed 49 percent of respondents using smartphones as their second go-to device for following the World Cup ahead of 63 percent for television. According to eMarketer, television's rank is "unsurprising" because of its screen size and in-home viewing was the preferred choice.

The study included respondents from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and the United States.

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Among the respondents, 32 percent would use a laptop or desktop computer to follow the games, which was enough to surpass Internet-connect TV and smart TV's 24 percent. Tablets ranked fourth with 18 percent, while radio and digital audio broadcast and feature phones tied with 7 percent.

The main motivation to follow the World Cup on smartphones was to monitor scores "anywhere and anytime," which represented 45 percent of a separate survey solely from smartphone users.

Smartphones are also beneficial was an alternative to watching the game away from home. From the device owners, watching the game because of being at work or commuting, garnered 30 percent of responses. Smartphones' ability to easier share information about the tournament was the third top choice with 27 percent.

Advertisers can capitalize on the high smartphone usage during the World Cup. The study revealed 37 percent of respondents interacted with mobile advertisements daily for the purpose of receiving more information on a product or service. Advertisers should also engage in special offers since 31 percent said it would further attract their interaction with mobile advertisements.

"Targeting and personalization were also important with three in 10 saying they were more likely to interact with an ad for products they were interested in and around one-quarter saying they would do so for an ad related to a brand they liked," eMarketer noted.

Mobile adverts that are "fun/entertaining" ranked as the top motive smartphone owners would engage in them while relevancy was second with 17 percent. Advertisement about the supporting team ranked third with 16 percent.

The IAB study also included 5,500 respondents from Australia, China, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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