Q4: How do owners of different mobile media media device brands differ?
2012 RJI Mobile Media News Consumption Survey
While many people have wished for one mobile media device that would do everything and satisfy everyone, their wish is unlikely to be realized. The trend clearly is toward owning multiple mobile devices and using them in different ways. However, as the number of device choices grow, age and income are likely to become more predictive of the types of devices and brands people choose to own.
Currently, two manufacturers are dominating the mobile media device market — Apple and Amazon. Both have carved out commanding leads over competitors in their respective device categories, in large part because they were the first movers in each category.
In the first quarter of 2012 when this RJI phone survey was conducted, the number of respondents who said they were using smartphone and tablet brands other than those marketed by Apple and Amazon was relatively small. Those who owned other brands were generally younger and less affluent than owners of Apple and Amazon brands. And they were less likely to be subscribers to mobile news products as well as printed newspapers and newsmagazines.
Key insights relating to smartphones
Our findings reveal that owners of Apple iPhones and Blackberry smartphones differ significantly from owners of Android-powered smartphones both demographically and in their use of mobile media for consuming news. For news organizations, this suggests that iPhone and Blackberry owners are likely to be the most receptive audiences for their mobile products, especially those products optimized for consuming news on the Apple iPad.
Among smartphone brands, the Apple iPhone was far and away more popular than any other single brand. While the combined percentage of all respondents who used Android-powered brands was somewhat greater than the percentage who used iPhones, a greater percentage of iPhone owners used at least one other mobile media device.
Profiles of smartphone owners: Owners of iPhones and Blackberry smartphones tend to be older and more affluent than owners of Android-powered smartphones.
| SMARTPHONE OWNERS | All Android Brands | Apple iPhone | Blackberry Smartphone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 65.1% | 60.8% | 56.2% |
| Women | 34.9% | 39.2% | 43.8% |
| Ages 18-34 | 56.0% | 45.7% | 43.1% |
| Ages 35-54 | 27.8% | 31.5% | 36.1% |
| Ages 55 or Older | 16.2% | 22.8% | 20.8% |
| Income under $75,000* | 63.9% | 38.5% | 41.3% |
| Income $75,000 or more* | 36.1% | 61.5% | 58.7% |
| *Annual household income | |||
| College Degrees* | 48.7% | 64.0% | 63.9% |
| * 4-year college degree or graduate degrees |
Printed newspaper and news magazine subscribers: About half of the Blackberry owners and more than 4-out-of-10 iPhone owners surveyed indicated that they subscribed to at least one printed newspaper or newsmagazine. Less than one third of the Android smartphone owners indicated that they subscribed to a printed newspaper or newsmagazine.
| SMARTPHONE OWNERS | All Android Brands | Apple iPhone | Blackberry Smartphone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall print news subscribers | 31.9% | 43.2% | 49.3% |
About one-third of iPhone and Blackberry owners subscribed to a printed local daily or Sunday newspapers. Less than a quarter of the Android smartphone owners were subscribers. Blackberry owners were more than twice as likely to subscribe to a printed national newspaper than were owners of either iPhone or Android smartphones.
| SMARTPHONE OWNERS | All Android Brands | Apple iPhone | Blackberry Smartphone |
|---|---|---|---|
| National newspaper subscriber | 6.7% | 7.2% | 16.4% |
| Newsmagazine subscriber | 10.1% | 15.3% | 16.4% |
| Local daily or Sunday newspaper subscriber | 21.8% | 31.5% | 34.2% |
| Weekly community news newspaper subscriber | 10.1% | 13.5% | 11.0% |
Digital news subscribers: The low percentages of smartphone owners who subscribe to digital editions of newspapers or newsmagazines are not surprising considering that only a few news organizations currently offer subscription-based digital editions designed for reading on mobile media devices.
| SMARTPHONE OWNERS | All Android Brands | Apple iPhone | Blackberry Smartphone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital news subscribers | 3.4% | 9.9% | 2.7% |
News apps: The Apple App Store had more than 10,000 apps available to download in the news category when this survey was conducted, which would explain the significantly higher percentage of downloads by Apple iPhone owners. The percentages are based on the number of downloads indicated by smartphone owners for all mobile media devices they use.
| SMARTPHONE OWNERS | All Android Brands | Apple iPhone | Blackberry Smartphone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owners who have downloaded one more mobile news app | 29.8% | 41.9% | 21.9% |
When asked which content format smartphone owners preferred for consuming news content, websites hosted by news organizations was their top choice.
| SMARTPHONE OWNERS | All Android Brands | Apple iPhone | Blackberry Smartphone |
|---|---|---|---|
| News organization websites | 63.2% | 49.3% | 40.0% |
| News organization mobile apps | 22.8% | 34.2% | 26.7% |
| News aggregator apps | 3.5% | 8.2% | 13.3% |
| Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) | 7.0% | 5.5% | 6.7% |
| Other formats | 3.5% | 2.8% | 13.4% |
Other mobile media devices used by smartphone owners: About two-thirds of iPhone and Blackberry owners used at least one other mobile media device. Just over half of Android smartphone owners used additional mobile media devices.
| SMARTPHONE OWNERS | All Android Brands | Apple iPhone | Blackberry Smartphone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smartphone plus at least one other mobile device | 53.8% | 67.1% | 63.0% |
For owners of all brands of smartphones who also owned another mobile media device, a large media tablet was the most popular.
| OTHER MOBILE MEDIA DEVICES USED BY SMARTPHONE OWNERS | All Android Brands | Apple iPhone | Blackberry Smartphone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large media tablet | 45.3% | 65.1% | 50.0% |
| Small media tablet | 22.7% | 10.1% | 17.4% |
| E-Reader | 27.3% | 24.8% | 32.6% |
Nearly all iPhone and Blackberry owners who also owned a large media tablet used an Apple iPad. More than three-quarters of Android smartphone owners who also owned a large media tablet used an Apple iPad.
| LARGE MEDIA TABLET BRANDS USED BY SMARTPHONE OWNERS | All Android Brands | Apple iPhone | Blackberry Smartphone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple iPad | 78% | 96% | 96% |
| Motorola Zoom | 3% | 0% | 0% |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 | 7% | 3% | 0% |
| Toshiba Thrive 10 | 5% | 0% | 0% |
| Other large tablets | 3% | 1% | 4% |
| Don’t know/not sure | 3% | 0% | 0% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Key insights relating to media tablets
In this survey we made a distinction between large media tablets, such as the Apple iPad, and small media tablets, such as the Amazon Kindle Fire. In both categories the examples just given were overwhelmingly dominant. As with the smartphone brands, the owners of iPads and Kindle Fire’s differed significantly both demographically and in their use of mobile media for consuming news.
Each category of media tablet was analyzed separately, however for this report the iPad and Kindle Fire are compared with an aggregation of all other tablets (large and small). We found that about 13 percent of all large media tablet owners also owned a small media tablet, and about 30 percent of all small media tablet owners also owned a large media tablet. Nearly all tablet owners also owned a smartphone.
Profiles of tablet owners: Perhaps the most notable difference between the Kindle Fire and iPad profiles is the nearly opposite percentages for men and women.
| TABLET OWNERS | Amazon Kindle Fire | Apple iPad | All other media tablets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 42.6% | 63.0% | 64.7% |
| Women | 57.4% | 37.0% | 35.3% |
| Ages 18-34 | 31.5% | 39.0% | 39.2% |
| Ages 35-54 | 40.7% | 40.6% | 43.1% |
| Ages 55 or Older | 27.8% | 20.3% | 17.6% |
| Income under $75,000* | 45.1% | 39.1% | 54.3% |
| Income $75,000 or more* | 54.9% | 60.9% | 45.7% |
| *Annual household income | |||
| College Degrees* | 57.4% | 67.6% | 54.9% |
| * 4-year college degree or graduate degrees |
Printed newspaper and news magazine subscribers: Publishers should be somewhat encouraged to know that nearly half of Apple iPad and Kindle Fire owners also subscribed to at least one newspaper or newsmagazine.
| TABLET OWNERS | Amazon Kindle Fire | Apple iPad | All other media tablets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall print news subscribers | 46.3% | 48.1% | 37.3% |
| TABLET OWNERS | Amazon Kindle Fire | Apple iPad | All other media tablets |
|---|---|---|---|
| National newspaper subscriber | 9.3% | 12.7% | 2.0% |
| Newsmagazine subscriber | 16.7% | 19.6% | 11.8% |
| Local daily or Sunday newspaper subscriber | 31.5% | 37.0% | 23.5% |
| Weekly community newspaper subscriber | 13.0% | 16.4% | 11.8% |
Digital news subscribers: The higher percentage of Apple iPad owners who subscribe to digital editions of newspapers or newsmagazines is not surprising considering that only a few news organizations currently offer subscription-based digital editions designed for reading on other media tablets.
| TABLET OWNERS | Amazon Kindle Fire | Apple iPad | All other media tablets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital news subscribers | 1.9% | 11.1% | 2.0% |
News apps: The percentages are based on the number of downloads indicated by tablet owners for all mobile media devices they use.
| TABLET OWNERS | Amazon Kindle Fire | Apple iPad | All other media tablets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owners who have downloaded one more mobile news app | 27.8% | 41.3% | 25.5% |
When asked which content format tablet owners preferred for consuming news content, websites hosted by news organizations was their top choice.
| TABLET OWNERS | Amazon Kindle Fire | Apple iPad | All other media tablets |
|---|---|---|---|
| News organization websites | 46.7% | 53.4% | 69.2% |
| News organization mobile apps | 30.0% | 27.6% | 23.1% |
| News aggregator apps | 10.0% | 12.1% | 7.7% |
| Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) | 10.0% | 1.7% | 0.0% |
| Other formats | 3.3% | 5.1% | 0.0% |
Other mobile media devices used by tablet owners: A clear majority of tablet owners also used another mobile media device.
| TABLET OWNERS | Amazon Kindle Fire | Apple iPad | All other media tablets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owners who use at lease one other mobile media device | 81.5% | 92.6% | 84.3% |
For owners of all brands of media tablet, a smartphone was the most popular additional mobile media device.
| OTHER MOBILE MEDIA DEVICES USED BY TABLET OWNERS | Amazon Kindle Fire | Apple iPad | All other media tablets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smartphone | 70.4% | 89.9% | 76.5% |
| Large media tablet | 27.8% | — | — |
| Small media tablet | — | 10.6% | — |
| E-Reader | 27.8% | 24.3% | 15.7% |
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