Mobile boosts news consumption: new study
Jinfo Blog

By Nancy Davis Kho

Abstract

A recent study reports that users read news on at least two devices, primarily their own computer, but additionally a tablet or smartphone, these last two being additive sources. The challenge for publishers now is how to capitalise on this trend.

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At long last: an encouraging study for publishers of news. And it’s mobile that gets the thanks.

According to a study of more than 3,000 US adults released this week from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, a growing number of adults are using multiple platforms (including smartphone, tablet, laptop/desktop) to consume news, and that the end result is higher consumption of news.

First, a sense of scale: the study found that about 75% of US adults own either a desktop or laptop, a percentage that has plateaued since 2007. Another 44% own a smartphone, and 18% own a tablet. (The growth in the last category continues to impress – according to figures from Pew published just last October, only 11% of US adults had a tablet.) And more than 10% of Americans own all three devices.

This latest study found that almost one in four respondents got their news on at least two devices – “a desktop/laptop computer and smartphone, a computer and a tablet, a tablet and a smartphone, or on all three”. About a third exhibited a preference for a news organisation’s website as their primary source for news, even the mobile users. While “social” continues to be a buzzword for news providers, the Pew study found that referrals from Twitter and Facebook continue to play a minor, albeit growing, role in guiding users to news.

The Pew study found that while users of these three types of devices still exhibit a strong preference for reading news on their desktop or laptop, the addition of a tablet and/or smartphone tends to be additive: the user ends up getting news on the new devices as well without abandoning the primary channel. As Pew says, “ … their news experience widens and deepens”, referring no doubt to the interactivity and engagement encouraged on mobile devices.

But with all this good news comes a shadow – will it be the publishers who figure out best how to monetise that appetite for news everywhere, all the time, on every device? Or will it be someone like Facebook or Google who have the challenge of multidevice content distribution well in hand? Publishers will do well to keep those partners close – whether they turn out to be friends or frenemies depends on the ability of the publishers to leverage this mobile moment.

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