More Than Half Of Smartphone Users Get News Alerts

Many news organizations have recently ramped up their use of mobile news alerts – notifications that pop up on mobile phones, alerting people of breaking news or major headlines. According to the Pew Research Center, they see this as an opportunity to both inform and reconnect with audiences over the course of the day. And, with about seven-in-ten Americans (72%) getting news on mobile devices, these organizations clearly see a potential audience for alerts.

More than half (55%) of U.S. smartphone users get news alerts on their phones’ screens, but getting them frequently is still fairly rare. Just 13% of smartphone users say they often receive news alerts, according to new Pew Research Center data. And only about half of those who ever get them click through to the full story or search for more information (47%, or 26% of smartphone users overall).

According Pew, those who follow the news all or most of the time are somewhat more likely to get smartphone news alerts, but the differences are not huge. Nearly six-in-ten smartphone users who follow the news closely (58%) ever get news alerts, compared with 52% of those who follow the news less often. There is a somewhat greater difference in the tendency of these two groups to seek out the details of a story upon receiving an alert: 53% of those who closely follow the news say they do so, compared with 42% of those who follow the news less closely.