Content consumption up via tablet

New data out from comScore finds Kindle Fire now accounts for just over half of the market share for Android tablets (February 2012); Fire's closest competitor is Samsung's Galaxy Tax with a 15% share.

by Kristina Knight

Among the more interesting data is a new category linking geography and carrier information. California, for example, sways to AT&T with a 42% share of smartphone devices while New York sways more to Verizon (43.6% share).

Pairing up the geographic information from comScore with information from a recent Sensis, White Horse report, mobile marketers could see higher engagement from the Hispanic demographic. The Hispanic Mobile Report found Hispanic smartphone users are likely to shop in-store with friends - they are searching product reviews (38%), using store mobile apps (31%) and visiting store websites (60%) while shopping with friends. Utilizing the comScore data that Californian's are likely using carrier AT&T, a retailer could target ads not only to a demographic but to a specific device to improve engagement levels.

Meanwhile of those using tablets, those who have larger screens are consuming more content. Ten inch tablet screens averaged 125 browser page views (February 2012) while 5" screens received 79 browser page views. A large portion of that content is likely local news.

New data from the Pew Research Center 72% of US adults are reading local newspapers to stay up to date and while physical papers still lead, digital editions are gaining ground. Nearly one-third said if the local paper shut down it would have a 'major influence' on their lives. Pew's research shows Sunday print editions reach about 66% of adults; online versions (desktop or laptop) reach 60% of adults. Digital editions via smartphone reach just over one-quarter (26%) of adults while digital-via-tablet versions reach about 12% of adults.

Tags: comScore, local content, mobile content, mobile devices, mobile marketing, mobile trends, Pew Research, smartphone trends, White Horse