Content a Bigger Issue for Mobile, Other Businesses

Content is becoming a bigger deal for "screens" of all types. Mobiles already are used by 69 percent of smart phone users every day. Also, consumer and business content consumption patterns appear to be changing as tablet and e-reader ownership grow.

The share of adults in the United States who own a tablet of some sort nearly doubled from 10 percent to 19 percent between mid-December 2011 and early January 2012. That’s a doubling of mass market adoption in just 30 days, from a significant base.

The ownership of e-readers also surged from 10 percent to 19 percent over the same time period. Tablet ownership doubled in two months, in fact. 

Though iPads seem to be used for a variety of purposes, content consumption seems to be a dominant business application, though significant percentages of business users also say the tablet displaces some amount of smart phone use as well.

Web browsing, reading and news consumption are the top three usage contexts identified by professionals worldwide.

Whether tablet ownership “revives” the print newspaper and magazine market remains to be seen. But it already is pretty clear that tablets and e-readers are changing the function of “reading.”

The survey suggests that tablet computing is transforming patterns of content consumption. iPad-owning IT and business professionals are rapidly migrating away from newspapers and printed books, toward digital alternatives.

Nearly three quarters of iPad owners say that owning an iPad has reduced the frequency with which they purchase newspapers and books. Whether that helps or harms print content providers remains to be seen.

More than 61 percent of U.S Internet users research travel online prior to booking, a story in MediaPost reports. And there is evidence that the amount and types of content on travel-related sites make a difference.

Brands that invest in "content curation" (collecting third party content)  register longer average user time on site and more return visitors, according to L2. Brands recruiting local staff to provide tips can increase user time on site by 16 percent.

Also, users on brand sites with "curated itineraries" (essentially, content about other travelers who have gone to a specific venue, or used a specific travel method or provider) spend 12 percent more time browsing.