There was a really smart piece of analysis by Jasper Jackson over on The Media Briefing yesterday where he looked at the impact of mobile device usage and how it affects “when consumers access your content”.
His findings, based on data from the FT and the Guardian, mirror the experience of the New Statesman and the Press Gazette – specifically how heavy usage of smartphones and tablets at weekends is filling the deep Saturday and Sunday troughs previously typical of news-based websites.
The FT graph also shows clearly the pre- and post-work ‘check-in’ via mobile devices during weekdays.
Jackson notes:
A key point here is that the bulk of this traffic is additive – the FT is seeing high levels of traffic to its website during times when there was previously very little, simply because people now have a way of accessing it.
Again that mirrors my own experience.
So what lessons can digital publishers draw from this data? For one answer Jackson quotes Tom Betts, FT’s head of data:
We are starting to see a number of changes to the way editorial teams publish. Obviously having someone working nine-to-five on mobile publishing doesn’t work.
And if you don’t have a weekend operation, perhaps now is the time to start. More over at The Media Briefing.
Jon Bernstein 