For the first time in Q2 2012, every magazine in our study printed at least one mobile action code. All but ten of the magazine titles printed 10 or more codes in the quarter.

Action Codes Per Month

Most months in 2012 showed a continuing upward trend from month to month, as the graph above illustrates. In addition, the lines for 2011 and 2012 appear to be parallel, indicating that interest and investment in mobile activation codes continues at a rapid rate.

A year-over-year analysis shows that the number of action codes rose more than 150% in the first half of each year (3565 vs. 1414). If this trend continues, more than 11,000 codes will be printed in 2012 with more than 1000 codes printed per month starting in September or October.

The projected growth pattern for Q3 may well be exceeded. Two magazines have already announced record breaking code use for September. Seventeen’s September 2012 issue will contain more than 250 activated images. GQ announced that their September issue will activate every advertising page with image recognition.

The code count growth rate tells only part of the story.