eMarketer: News reading is moving to mobile

According to a survey by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, a considerable number of users read news on smartphones and tablets in the first quarter of 2013. The 35-44 age group has the highest proportion of reading news on mobile terminals. Except for the group over 65 years old, the proportion of other groups reading news on smartphones is over 60%.

Among tablet users, the percentage of people who read news is similar, with those aged 65 and over more likely to read news on tablets than smartphones, with that percentage rising to 59%.

Mobile news reading has likely affected the print newspaper business. Between Q1 2012 and Q2 2013, newspaper subscriptions fell 2.2 percentage points to 31.1%. The decline was even more pronounced among heavy mobile news readers. Among the 45-54 age group, the percentage of newspaper subscriptions fell from 34.4% to 28% in 2013.

Localytics analyzed mobile news reading apps from July 2012 to 2013 and found that the average frequency of each user logging into news apps increased by 39% year-on-year, while the time spent on news apps decreased by 26%. Tablets are an ideal tool for news reading, and users spend 50 times more time reading news on tablets than on mobile phones.

Overall, print news readers are slightly less likely to read news on their mobile phones than the general population.

Given that 12.7% of print newspaper news subscribers say they are likely to cancel their newspaper subscription in the next year, this is a great opportunity for mobile reading.

via: eMarketer