Mobile News Increasingly Taking Bite Out of Print Newspaper Subscriptions

Newspapers

May 2013 -- According to a recent RJI-DPA Mobile Media Research Project survey, 80% of U.S. adults used at least one mobile media device in their daily lives in the past 7 days. That represents a 13-percentage-point increase since last year when the quarterly study found that 67% of all respondents between the ages of 18 and 88 had used mobile media devices.
 
Conducted by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the University of Missouri, the intended purpose of the ongoing RJI-DPA mobile media news consumption surveys is to gain insights into who uses mobile media (smartphones, tablets, and e-readers) and how their uses for news may change over time.

Additional findings:
 

• The study finds 55% of all respondents report keeping up with news via mobile devices, compared to 42% last year. In addition, 43% report following the news via their desktops (data N/A for 2012).

• Among print newspaper subscribers, 44% say that in the past year they also turned to their desktop PCs to keep up on news, while 52% used their mobile devices for news consumption.

• Consumption of mobile news is lending itself to the shift away from newspapers as the survey finds that the number of print subscribers has declined 6.6% overall in the past year.

• ​The decision to drop print newspaper subscriptions was highest among print subscribers ages 25-34, representing a 28.5% subscription decline, followed by subscribers ages 45-54 (-25.1%).
   

Source: Reynolds Journalism Institute, 2013​

• Last year slightly less than half (49.8%) of the newspaper subscribers were age 55 or older. This year seniors account for 61% of all newspaper subscribers.

• The survey found that respondents who used mobile media and had become mobile news consumers were somewhat more likely to have canceled their subscriptions to print newspapers (12% versus 6.9% of non-mobile news users).

• Examining the likelihood of cancelling print subscription in 2013, 12.7% of all print subscribers say that there is a good chance they will do so.

Source: Reynolds Journalism Institute, 2013

• Respondents in the 45-54 age group had the most rapid transition to mobile media and the highest percentage of cancelations among mobile news consumers in the past 12 months.

About: The staff of RJI’s Insight and Survey Center interviewed 1,165 U.S. adults randomly selected from phone number lists in the first quarter of 2013.

Sources: RJI, News consumption on mobile devices surpasses desktop computers, newspapers, May 1, 2013 and 2013 Q1 Research Report 1: News consumption on mobile media surpassing desktop computers and newspapers, April 25, 2013.