The first set of data from this tracking has just been published in the latest quarterly NRS report. In an industry that is fuelled by the digital fire, I was particularly interested to see these figures, to understand if the public had the same digital-mania that we do.
The rise of the smartphone, the iPad and Kindle are all too plain for us to see. Thinking back, I can’t remember a tube moment when one, if not all three, weren’t on display. It’s clear that there is a thirst for this technology, which is reflected in the recent NRS figures; 8 per cent of the population have used a tablet computer or Kindle and that 36 per cent have read a newspaper digital edition on it, and 21 per cent a magazine. To me, these are very encouraging figures. Given that tablet computers were only launched last May, they have seen a much faster take up than smartphones. Again the introduction of digital editions is a fairly recent phenomenon and it’s great to see this level of interaction in such a short period.
Digital editions are an important part of diversification for publishers. With the decline in readership of printed publications, particularly of newspapers, it’s crucial that publishers look to build added revenue streams, and digital is an obvious choice. The attraction for readers of a digital edition as opposed to a website is that they get the same experience of reading through something, giving them a linear journey through the publication, as they would have with a printed edition. And with 36 per cent of people reading digital editions, there is a clear thirst for them.
The NRS has also tracked the number of readers using smartphones, a figure which is unsurprisingly much smaller; 5 per cent of the population have viewed newspaper content via a phone app and only 3 per cent have viewed content from a magazine. There are probably a number of reasons for this but the most obvious to me is screen-size. You don’t get the same experience from a phone app as you do on a tablet computer or Kindle, and in the most part, any newspaper or magazine content will be read through their WAP page.
What is interesting to note is that in both phone and tablet, newspapers have a higher readership. This is because of the nature of news; it is easy to consume on the move, while you are commuting to or from work. Magazines still have that luxury feel to them where you would buy a printed edition and set aside time to really read it, in a way that we just don’t do with news.
Obviously this is just the first set of data that the NRS has on digital newspaper and magazine readership, and this is something that they will continue to track. I’m looking forward to seeing the next report and I would predict that we’ll see an increase in all of these figures.
