Australians' news and media consumption is 51 per cent higher on mobile devices

Australians’ news and media consumption is 51 per cent higher on mobile devices

Sydney, Australia, 10 March, 2013 – New Experian Hitwise data shows that consumption of the news has seen a steady increase on mobile devices over traditional online channels from September 2012 to March 2013.

The share of visits in March to News and Media sites on mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, is 51 per cent higher than that of the online news via fixed line connections in the home, found Experian Hitwise Mobile data, a new platform launched by Experian, the global information services company,  this week.

Over the past 18 months, news publishing houses have been working on new ways to maintain readership figures, introducing new tabloid and online formats and implementing online pay wall systems to navigate the changing habits of their consumers.

  • The data, which is based on the largest sample of its kind in Australia, when compared to fixed-line traffic found:
    The Bureau of Meteorology is the most visited site in the news and media category across both mobile and fixed line, generating six per cent of visits against all internet traffic.
  • Smh.com.au ranks second in the top ten most visited sites from mobile across the news and media category
  • Of the top ten news related websites, The Herald Sun sees the largest positive difference in share of visits on mobile, being 56 per cent higher than its share of visits on fixed line. This is followed by the Daily Telegraph at 52 per cent and dailymail.co.uk at 47 per cent higher than traditional online channels.

“Consumers are using mobile more than ever before and are looking for improved service and accessibility across multiple platforms. The dramatic changes we have seen in the media landscape demonstrates an industry working collectively to reach their audience in new ways.  For media, it’s providing optimised content for a number of platforms,” Said Matt Glasner, General Manager, Experian Marketing Services.

A first for mobile measurement in Australia, the data comes from the introduction of Hitwise Mobile, an addition to the well-known Hitwise platform that reports on more than one million websites across more than 160 industries, providing insight into the behaviours and trends of Australian consumers. The mobile data is based on a sample size of more than 100,000 consumers and looks at web browser behaviour on a mobile device or tablet.

“We saw a gap in the market where understanding consumer behaviour and preferences was becoming more difficult as mobile took off,” said Glasner. “With our Hitwise mobile product, marketers are now able to see a complete picture of consumer online engagement with a brand, from both a fixed line and mobile perspective. This will allow businesses to make informed decisions, such as we have seen among our newspapers, to enhance consumer engagement with their brand.”

ENDS


Notes to Editors

Table 1 - News and Media category consumption across fixed line connections vs mobile devices against all internet activity

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