comScore, a global leader in measuring statistics on digital content consumption, released its findingson digital magazine and newspaper use by consumers for the previous period. While the overall numbers of subscribers who read throughout a one-month period on their tablets wasn’t surprising—and in fact, was a very encouraging indicator of consumer choice—there were some interesting statistics concerning which devices are in the lead.
Over the summer months, more than 37% of tablet owners read a newspaper at least once, with more than 11% of those consumers reading a digital newspaper on their devices every day; 39.6% of tablet owners read a digital magazine on their devices at least once during that same time frame.
The interesting thing is that Kindle Fire edges out the iPad in terms of digital newspaper and magazine reading. More than 39% of Kindle Fire users read a newspaper and almost 44% of them read a magazine during that time period, but iPad users were at 38.3% and 40.3% for those same periodicals, respectively. Interestingly, Nook tablet readers were in the smallest percentage for every category, even behind the designation for an Android tablet that was not a Kindle Fire or Nook, except for the daily use of newspaper, when Nook owners rose to the top with an astounding 13.4 percent.
“Tablets are fundamentally redefining how people consume news and information, with the format more conducive to reading longer form content than PCs or smartphones,” said Mark Donovan, comScore SVP of Mobile, in the press release. “In the case of online newspapers, tablets are now driving 7 percent of total page views, an impressive figure considering the relative infancy of the tablet space. Publishers that understand how these devices are shifting consumption dynamics will be best positioned to leverage this platform to not only drive incremental engagement among current subscribers but also attract new readers.”
The results from comScore went on to break down the results by gender and age demographic as well, with some interesting findings. The overwhelming majority of digital newspaper and magazine readers were male, and the 25-34 year age bracket was the most likely to read these periodicals on their tablets.
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.
