Pew: Older Demos Drive Mobile News Growth

Just as broadcasters are looking to adopt a more mobile, interactive standard for TV transmissions, a Pew Research Center study has found that 85% of U.S. adults have gotten news from a mobile device, up from 72% last year and 54% in 2013.

The growth has been driven by older demos accessing more mobile news, Pew noted.

Two-thirds of those 65 and older said they get news on a mobile device (67%), up 24 percentage points in just one year. and three times the number who said they did in 2013, Pew said.

Among those ages 50-65, 79% get news on a mobile device.

The older demos are playing catch-up, as more than nine in 10 of those ages 18-49 get news on a mobile device, a figure unchanged from 2016.

Lower-income Americans are also increasing their mobile news use, with about 80% of those making under $30,000 a year saying they get news on mobile devices, twice the number in 2013.

The study was conducted March 13-27 among 4,151 respondents. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.