Report: Digital Newspaper Readers' Eyes Shift to Mobile

Where do consumers get their breaking news? According to an August 2014 study from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) conducted by comScore, 80% of US adult internet users accessed digital news content. In terms of unique visitors, the digital newspaper audience came in at 164 million this past August—an 18% year-over-year increase.

One reason for the growth? Mobile devices, reports eMarketer.com.  The percentage of mobile-only digital newspaper readers more than doubled between August 2013 and August 2014, while the portion of unique visitors who only looked at news on desktops and laptops dropped 16%.

But not all mobile users had ditched their PCs—the number of readers who looked at digital news via mobile and nonmobile devices rose 48%. Thanks to massive growth, mobile-only news readers represented the largest portion of the digital newspaper audience, at 38% of the total. Despite its decline, the PC-only group still beat out those who used a combination of mobile and nonmobile devices, with respective shares of 34% and 28%.

NAA and comScore reported that young females—ages 18 to 24—showed the largest increase in mobile-only readers, leaping 204% year over year. Males ages 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 had the second- and third-biggest rises, at impressive rates of 188% and 163%, respectively.