iPad, Xoom, Galaxy Tab reading statistics revealed

Reading the news, it seems, is the most popular activity for owners of tablets such as the iPad, Xoom and Galaxy Tab. It has also been found that these avid news readers are unwilling to pay for their much-loved content.

The Economic Group and Pew Research Centre’s Project for Excellence in Journalism joined forces to produce an intense study on behalf of various media outlets. The results it seems are less than positive for news outlets.

Of all adults in the US, 11% now own a tablet. Of these tablet owners, an estimated 77% said that they make use of their tablets for 90 minutes or more per day. More than 53% of all tablet owners use their tablets to get their daily dose of the news. Of this 53%, a mere 14% pay for their content.

When asked if they would pay US$5 a month for their news, only 21% said that they would. While news apps remain popular, a third of the respondents use traditional mobile browsers to view their content.

The authors of the study said, “When it was launched, many observers believed that the tablet might help change the experience of news consumers and the economic ground rules of digital news consumption.”

“That belief was based on the sense that people would consume information on tablets largely through special applications or apps… which news organizations might be able to charge for.”

“If news organisations are more successful at finding a way to reap revenue in the tablet environment than they have on the internet more broadly, the movement toward tablet consumption could be quite promising. The likelihood of that, though, is uncertain at best”.

The study also shows that 39% use their tablets primarily for social networking. Thirty percent of the respondents’ time used their devices for mobile gaming, while a mere 13% use their tablets for video content. The full report is detailed here.