March 14, 2011
Pew research points to mobile opportunities for local news, info
Nearly half of all US adults are getting some kind of local news or information via their cell phones or tablet computers, according to new research from Pew. How might local news producers capitalize on this growing trend to build their business, and their communities?...
Pew laid out the landscape: “Local news is a largely untapped and undeveloped market for news companies. Many local advertisers such as restaurant owners or small-business people are not yet online. At the same time, technology companies like Google and Facebook are moving more heavily into soliciting and enabling local advertising.”
Research highlights. This survey of 2,251 US adults 18 and over was conducted in English and Spanish Jan. 12-25, 2011. This was a joint project of the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Internet & American Life Project, with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Here are the types of local news and info that mobile users report they’ve been getting on their phones and tablets:
- Weather: 42%
- Local restaurants and businesses: 37%
- General local news: 30%
- Local sports scores and updates: 24%
- Local traffic and transportation: 22%
- Local coupons and discounts: 19%
- News alerts: 15%
So although general news doesn’t top the list, the two most popular categories do indicate some editorial and advertising opportunities.
For instance, local sites could community calendar listings to indicate events that might be especially good in sunny weather vs. indoor events for rainy days. Then they could partner with weather information sites or apps to integrate these event listings as a way to draw people interested in weather news further into community life (and further into the news site, with more exposure to ads, sponsorships, and other revenue strategies).
Similarly, the popularity of mobile local info about restaurants and businesses indicates not only potential mobile offerings for local advertisers, but also the need to make your local food and business content especially mobile friendly—and perhaps package it as a branded mobile service.
Building tomorrow’s local news market. Mobile can be a key tool to grow your long-term local news/info market. Contrary to popular opinion, Pew found that young adults (ages 18-29) are by far the most likely age group (70%) to use mobile local news or info. Also, nearly half (47%) of these people report that they specifically seek local news on their cell phones or tablets.
Also, parents with minor children were especially likely (64%) to get local news/info on mobile devices. Only 40% of people with no minor children are mobile local news/info users.
Apps not really so great for direct revenue. This study reinforces the argument that apps are probably not the best starting point for your mobile news strategy, especially for local news.
Only 13% of mobile local news/info users report having local news/info apps—and the only distinguishing characteristic of this group is that they tend to be more into high tech. They’re not even generally much more affluent than other mobile local news/info users.
Many news orgs are attracted to news apps because they provide the option of charging users directly for content—either with a fee to purchase the app, or by supporting subscriptions. But apps are not where most mobile users turn to get their local news/info, which undermines the premise of an app-focused mobile news strategy.
Pew notes: “Currently, only 10% of adults use mobile apps to connect to local news and information have paid for those apps, according to our survey. This represents only 1% of the total US adult population. The vast majority access their local apps for free.”
In general, Pew’s research doesn’t offer much hope for getting people to pay for local news via any digital channel:
“Roughly three-quarters of adults say they would not be willing to pay for online access to their local newspaper, even if it was the only way to access the newspaper’s content. ...[But] in what may be a positive sign to news organizations, adults who consume their news on mobile devices are more likely than other adults to say they would be willing to pay a fee. Mobile news consumers are almost twice as likely as other adults to say they would pay a $5 monthly fee for access to their local newspaper online (30% vs. 17%). And among local app users, 38% are willing to pay that amount. There is less enthusiasm among mobile news consumers and local app users when the proposed fee is $10 per month.”
Pew also asked all survey participants what impact the disappearance of their local newspaper might have on on their ability to keep up with community news/info:
- Major impact: 28% of adults
- Minor impact: 30%
- No impact: 39% “Most likely to respond this way were younger adults (under age 50), those with broadband at home, those who say they do not enjoy getting news, and those who usually get news from just one or two platforms.”
Mobile means ALL phones, not just smartphones. The Pew study did not specifically examine the divide between feature phones and smartphones. However, looking at the numbers it’s obvious that—since (according to ComScore) smartphones currently comprise only 27% of US cell phone market, and since Pew says only 7% of US adults have table computers (and most of them also have smartphones)—a large portion of mobile local news/info usage is happening on simpler, cheaper feature phones.
This means that local news providers need to keep the full range of mobile devices in mind when developing their mobile strategy, especially their mobile web strategy. Don’t just design for advanced smartphones with full touchscreens, fully featured browsers, and reliably fast data connections. Also, remember that the BlackBerry is still one of the most popular types of smartphones—and many BlackBerries lack touchscreens and advanced browsers.
The News for Digital Journalists blog is made possible by a grant to USC Annenberg from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Comments
Didn’t know that there’s such an high percentage of mobile users making enquiries about restaurant. Seems that we have become an IT reliant whole that one will not be able to live their full potential using connection with their phones.
Great information and some really good statistics.
Mary
http://pigmentationonface.org
By marykimballw, 03/15/11 at 6:25 am
I would just write for touch screens the new blackberry has touch screens as will all new models of smart phones, thanks for the information, Eamonn
By eamonn, 03/19/11 at 11:51 pm
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