No longer a harbinger, but certainly timely, a study by the Reynolds Journal Institute shows that, among respondents who had used a tablet and/or a smartphone during the week prior to taking the
surveys, the percentage of news consumers who used both devices more than doubled, increasing from 21% in 2012 to 46% in 2013. As a percentage of respondents who used a smartphone with a tablet, 82%
were news consumers in 2013.
Respondents With Smartphone or Tablet (% of
Respondents Q1 2013; Had Device In Week Before Survey) |
Age group | % of
Respondents |
Total | 64% |
18-24 | 85 |
25-34 | 83 |
35-44 | 80 |
45-54 | 73 |
55-64 | 49 |
65+ | 25 |
Source: Reynolds Journalism Institute, August 2013 |
The percentage of smartphone and/or media tablet users who said they used one or
both mobile devices to read, view or listen to digital content within news websites or news apps during the previous week jumped from 62% in 2012 to 70% in 2013.
Respondents Using Smartphone and Tablets For News Websites or Apps in 2013 |
Device(s) | % of Respondents |
Smartphone
and/or Tablet | 70% |
Smartphone only | 63 |
Smartphone + Tablet | 82 |
Tablet only | 54 |
Source: Reynolds Journalism
Institute, August 2013 |
Most of the growth can be attributed to tablets. More than half (55%) of smart-phone and/or tablet news consumers in 2013 used a
media tablet with or without a smartphone. In 2012, three-quarters of the news consumers in this grouping used only a smartphone.
Women are moving closer to parity with men in the use of
mobile media, especially in the use of tablets, says the report. In 2013, as in 2012, women were much more likely to have used only a tablet; whereas men were much more likely to have used only a
smartphone. In 2013, women also were nearly equal to men in their use of tablets with smartphones for news. A year earlier, less than a quarter (24%) of the smartphone + tablet news consumers were
women.
Digital News Consumers By Gender & Device (Q1 2013) |
Device(s) used | Men | Women |
Smartphone and/or Tablet | 54% | 46% |
Smartphone only | 60 | 40 |
Smartphone + Tablet | 52 | 48 |
Tablet only | 38 | 62 |
Source: Reynolds Journalism Institute, August 2013 |
For more information from RJI, please visit here.