When it comes to traveling the information highway in the UK, one thing is clear — it’s time to go mobile or go home. This, according to the 2015 Ofcom Communications Market Report, was one of the many findings related to the digital habits of consumers in the UK. Publishers have seen this trend building for some time now, but it’s no longer a matter of if or when; it’s now. Here are four reasons to put making the move to mobile at the top of your to-do list:
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It’s a smartphone society.
More UK households have smartphones than desktop computers. Consumers in the UK are attached at the hip to their mobile phones. According to an article published in the Daily Mail, people check their cell phones on average of 150 times a day. According to Bank of America’s annual Trends in Consumer Mobility Report, people are even bringing their phones to bed with them. A startling 71% of respondents said that they either sleep with or next to their phone. What’s more, 3% said they sleep with their mobile phone in their hand. Not very romantic, but certainly proof of the love affair people are having with their mobile devices. In the spirit of being where our consumers are, providing content and connecting with them on smartphones is a very smart move.
Social and mobile are becoming synonymous.
If you live in the UK, chances are good that you have a social profile. The new Ofcom report says that more than 70% of all adults in the UK have one. Where are they, you ask? On Facebook. They are checking posts, connecting with friends, watching video — and reading the news. Many people in the UK (29%), particularly younger consumers, regularly seek out news content on their mobile devices. The challenge is keeping them coming back for more, which means finding new and innovative ways for publishers to break the mobile content code. The Ofcom report suggests that Facebook’s Instant Articles may be one way of doing it. The recent announcement by Google, Twitter, Pinterest, and WordPress that they’ll be creating a similar content platform is another.
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If you’re new to social media in the UK and not sure where to start, the Ofcom report points directly to Facebook. The social media giant commands an audience of more than 40 million unique visitors. That amounts to 86% of all digital users in Britain alone. While Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram also have huge followings, their numbers pale in comparison to Facebook.
Related: What Advertisers Should Know About News Consumption Across the World
Mobile advertising is growing and ruled by Google and Facebook.
One of the more telling findings of the Ofcom report was the sheer dominance of Google and Facebook on mobile – especially when it comes to advertising. As noted by The Wall Street Journal, “Market researcher eMarketer says that together, Facebook and Google will capture more than half of the $69 billion worldwide mobile-advertising market this year. Google leads, with a 35% share, but Facebook is growing faster.” That’s because of the enormous amount of time people are spending on the social network – an estimated 51 billion minutes by UK users in March 2015 alone, with much of it spent on mobile devices.
There’s an app for that.
These days, there’s an app for almost everything — with mobile messaging apps growing especially popular. On the news app front, there’s good news, too, with four in 10 adults in the UK getting their news from a website or app. While TV is still the top source for news among UK adults, 39% of them are heading online. According to comScore numbers referenced in the Ofcom report, the most popular news source in the UK is the BBC, with 27.8 million unique users. DMG Media’s The Daily Mail, is a close second with 24.5 million unique visitors. Just recently, The Daily Mail’s mobile app, Mail Plus, ranked number one in the UK app store, as mobile traffic now makes up half of the total digital audience for all top 10 news services.
Related: Mediaspectrum-Powered Newspaper Apps Top the Apple Charts
While digital communications in the UK and worldwide continues to evolve at lightning speed, the ease with which publishers can monetize seems directly tied to their efforts to mobilize. With new advances being announced almost daily, there’s no time to waste. Plus, the benefits can be big as evidenced by UK publishers DMG Media and Trinity Mirror who have had great success with Mediaspectrum’s Adrenalin powered mobile apps. We can help you too. To find out more, contact us today.
