BBC WORLDWIDE has published a digital consumption survey that captures why news organisations and advertisers alike have turned mobile into a mantra – it is the frequency with which people use them to find out what’s going on in the world.
According to a poll of 828 people in Ireland, conducted for the BBC by research firm Sponge It, 54 per cent of people use smartphone apps more than a couple of times a day to keep up with news and current affairs, followed by newspaper and television websites, which were both at 42 per cent.
The survey also hints at another trait of smartphones that makes them attractive to advertisers: instead of leaning towards one occasion in the day, the mobile consumption of news cuts across work, leisure and commuting hours.
Launched in association with Adforce.ie– BBC Worldwide's advertising sales representative in Ireland – the survey suggests that television still remains the most popular source of news overall. However, news consumption through online video sources has become a normal activity, it indicates, with 56 per cent citing this as something they do regularly. Among those surveyed, 83 per cent owned a laptop, 64 per cent owned a smartphone, 50 per cent owned a games console and 21 per cent had a tablet computer.
