Can Big Mobile Expect An Impact From Pokemon GO?

Pokemon GO has quickly become the top mobile game in history. While Nintendo Co. Ltd (ADR) NTDOY shares shot up more than 50 percent following the game’s release, the latest data from TickerTags indicates the “Big Four” mobile providers, Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, AT&T Inc. T, T-Mobile US Inc TMUS and Sprint Corp S, could be enjoying large Pokemon GO-related surges in data usage.

TickerTags monitors social media sites to identify trends by searching for words and phrases that appear together in social media content, such as tweets.

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Shortly after Pokemon GO’s release on July 6, players began reporting anecdotally on Twitter that the game was eating through all of their data. The number of social media mentions of “data” + “over,” “cell” + “data,” and “phone” + “data” have spiked to their highest levels in two years. Mentions pertaining to data overages are up 91 percent month-over-month in July and up 93 percent compared to their monthly average in Q1 of 2016.

T-Mobile recently announced that it gave Pokemon GO users free game data for a year. Following the announcement, social media mentions of switching from other carriers to T-Mobile spiked 51 percent compared to the Q1 baseline.

Sprint reports earnings on July 26, while Verizon and T-Mobile report on July 27.

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.