Pew: Mobile driving most news traffic

Most of the top news outlets are getting the majority of their web traffic from mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, according to a Pew Research report released Wednesday. 

Pew’s State of the New Media report found 39 of the top 50 news websites have a greater percentage of traffic coming from mobile devices than desktop computers. 

{mosads}The increase in mobile news consuming comes as smartphone penetration has boomed in the past few years. Sixty-four percent of people owned a smartphone in October of last year, according to a previous Pew survey. 

While mobile is driving more traffic, Pew found that visitors from a traditional computer tend to stay on a news site longer. Half of the top 50 sites report that visitors tend to stay longer on the site if they are using a desktop. For about 15 sites, the type of device people are using does not make a difference. For only 10 sites, mobile visitors tend to stay longer. 

Pew reported that mobile ad spending grew 78 percent last year and now makes up 37 percent of digital ad spending. Digital ad spending overall increased 17 percent. But Pew noted most traditional news outlets don’t “get more than a small share of their total revenue from digital.”

The audience for cable news and newspaper circulation declined in 2014, while network news and local news viewership increased slightly. Pew noted there is currently no real way to track the growth of news outlets that are digital only. 

“Overall, digital news entrants and experimentation, whether from longtime providers or new, are on the one hand now so numerous and varied that they are difficult to keep track of,” according to the report. “On the other hand, the pace of technological evolution and the multiplicity of choices – from platforms to devices to pathways – show no sign of slowing down.”