Q2: What are owners doing with their mobile media devices? Part 2
2012 RJI Mobile Media News Consumption Survey
Go to part 1
Usage by respondents ages 35-54: Owners in this age group overall were most likely to use their mobile media devices for interpersonal communication, accessing the Web for information other than new provided by news organizations and entertainment.
The following table summarizes the percentage of all mobile device owners ages 35-54 who said they actually used their devices to engage in the following activities during the seven days prior to taking the survey. The order of ranking is based on the percentages in the all mobile devices column.
| MOBILE DEVICE OWNERS AGES 35-54 | PERCENTAGE OF ACTUAL USERS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ACTIVITY CATEGORIES** | All Mobile Devices | Smart Phone Only | Apple iPad Plus* | Small Tablet Plus* | E-Reader Plus* | Other Mobile Plus* |
Interpersonal Communication | 89% | 98% | 95% | 74% | 88% | 88% |
| Web other than for News | 69% | 73% | 78% | 55% | 56% | 71% |
| Entertainment | 67% | 54% | 78% | 74% | 59% | 80% |
| Keeping up with the News | 62% | 54% | 88% | 52% | 65% | 69% |
| Social Media and Networks | 56% | 50% | 64% | 55% | 53% | 68% |
| Leisure Reading | 54% | 23% | 68% | 77% | 91% | 62% |
| Financial Activities | 52% | 43% | 61% | 48% | 59% | 65% |
| Work Related | 46% | 39% | 64% | 39% | 53% | 52% |
| E-Commerce | 45% | 27% | 60% | 52% | 56% | 57% |
| Creating, Managing Content | 38% | 36% | 46% | 36% | 38% | 49% |
| Education | 21% | 11% | 35% | 32% | 29% | 32% |
| Other Activities | 10% | 13% | 10% | 7% | 3% | 11% |
| *Plus indicates that a majority of these device owners also used other mobile media devices. | ||||||
**The specific terminology used in the survey for each category of activities can be found at the end of this report. | ||||||
Average hours of usage by all actual users ages 35-54: The following table summarizes the average number of hours of usage per week for all mobile device owners ages 35-54 who said they actually used their devices to engage in the following activities. The number of hours can be slightly skewed by heavy users in some categories, especially those in which the percentage of actual users was relatively low.
| ACTUAL USERS AGES 35-54 | AVERAGE HOURS PER WEEK OVERALL | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ACTIVITY CATEGORIES** | All Mobile Devices | Smart Phone Only | Apple iPad Plus* | Small Tablet Plus* | E-Reader Plus* | Other Mobile Plus* |
Entertainment | 9.6 | 6.0 | 8.8 | 12.0 | 6.4 | 12.6 |
| Interpersonal Communication | 8.5 | 7.3 | 9.3 | 11.3 | 9.4 | 12.0 |
| Work Related | 7.3 | 4.6 | 9.2 | 8.1 | 8.9 | 11.1 |
| Leisure Reading | 5.9 | 2.8 | 6.0 | 9.0 | 6.4 | 6.3 |
| Keeping up with the News | 5.6 | 4.0 | 6.3 | 11.1 | 6.9 | 7.2 |
| Education | 5.3 | 2.1 | 4.9 | 6.0 | 2.7 | 7.2 |
| Web other than for News | 4.2 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 5.1 |
| Social Media and Networks | 3.8 | 2.3 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 2.9 | 4.6 |
| Other Activities | 3.7 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 5.5 | 2.0 | 2.6 |
| Creating, Managing Content | 3.5 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 7.1 | 4.1 | 4.7 |
| Financial Activities | 1.6 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.8 |
| E-Commerce | 2.3 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 1.9 |
| *Plus indicates that a majority of these device owners also used other mobile media devices. | ||||||
**The specific terminology used in the survey for each category of activities can be found at the end of this report. | ||||||
Average hours of usage by all owners (users and non-users): The following table summarizes the average number of hours of usage per week for all mobile device owners ages 34-54. The average hours in this table include actual users as well as those who did not engage in these activities.
| ALL USERS AGES 35-54 | AVERAGE HOURS PER WEEK OVERALL | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ACTIVITY CATEGORIES** | All Mobile Devices | Smart Phone Only | Apple iPad Plus* | Small Tablet Plus* | E-Reader Plus* | Other Mobile Plus* |
Interpersonal Communication | 7.3 | 7.2 | 8.5 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 10.0 |
| Entertainment | 6.2 | 3.2 | 6.6 | 8.4 | 3.7 | 9.5 |
| Keeping up with the News | 3.4 | 2.2 | 5.3 | 5.4 | 4.3 | 4.7 |
| Work Related | 3.2 | 1.8 | 5.6 | 2.9 | 4.6 | 5.5 |
| Leisure Reading | 3.1 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 6.5 | 5.7 | 3.7 |
| Web other than for News | 2.8 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 3.4 |
| Social Media and Networks | 2.1 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 2.9 |
| Creating, Managing Content | 1.3 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 2.2 |
| Education | 1.1 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 2.2 |
| Financial Activities | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 1.1 |
| E-Commerce | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 1.0 |
| Other Activities | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| *Plus indicates that a majority of these device owners also used other mobile media devices. | ||||||
**The specific terminology used in the survey for each category of activities can be found at the end of this report. | ||||||
Usage by respondents 55 or older: Owners in this age group overall were most likely to use their mobile media devices for interpersonal communication, accessing the Web for information other than news provided by news organizations and leisure reading, which included e-books and electronic editions of magazines. Keeping up with news provided by news organizations ranked fifth or sixth as a percentage of actual users except for the iPad owners who ranked it fourth.
The following table summarizes the percentage of mobile device owners 55 or older who said they actually used their devices to engage in the following activities during the seven days prior to taking the survey. The order of ranking is based on the percentages in the all mobile devices column.
| MOBILE DEVICE OWNERS AGES 55 OR OLDER | PERCENTAGE OF ACTUAL USERS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ACTIVITY CATEGORIES** | All Mobile Devices | Smart Phone Only | Apple iPad Plus* | Small Tablet Plus* | E-Reader Plus* | Other Mobile Plus* |
Interpersonal Communication | 84% | 95% | 92% | 67% | 72% | 91% |
| Web other than for News | 66% | 67% | 72% | 56% | 59% | 83% |
| Entertainment | 60% | 36% | 83% | 72% | 72% | 66% |
| Leisure Reading | 60% | 21% | 75% | 89% | 100% | 60% |
| Keeping up with the News | 58% | 50% | 78% | 39% | 49% | 71% |
| Social Media and Networks | 42% | 26% | 50% | 50% | 44% | 69% |
| E-Commerce | 37% | 19% | 50% | 50% | 44% | 54% |
| Financial Activites | 36% | 21% | 56% | 39% | 28% | 54% |
| Creating, Managing Content | 35% | 24% | 42% | 44% | 31% | 57% |
| Work Related | 34% | 29% | 50% | 39% | 23% | 43% |
| Education | 14% | 5% | 17% | 17% | 15% | 26% |
| Other Activities | 10% | 12% | 3% | 0% | 3% | 20% |
| *Plus indicates that a majority of these device owners also used other mobile media devices. | ||||||
**The specific terminology used in the survey for each category of activities can be found at the end of this report. | ||||||
Average hours of usage by all actual users ages 55 or older: The following table summarizes the average number of hours of usage per week for all mobile device owners ages 55 or older who said they actually used their devices to engage in the following activities. The number of hours can be slightly skewed by heavy users in some categories, especially those in which the percentage of actual users was relatively low.
The relatively high number of hours of usage per week among actual users of small tablets can be attributed to the low number of actual users (18) in this age group. The number of hours of usage is more realistic in the next table for all users ages 55 and older. Actual users for all mobile devices in this age group totaled 145.
| ACTUAL USERS 55 OR OLDER | AVERAGE HOURS PER WEEK OVERALL | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ACTIVITY CATEGORIES** | All Mobile Devices | Smart Phone Only | Apple iPad Plus* | Small Tablet Plus* | E-Reader Plus* | Other Mobile Plus* |
Work Related | 10.5 | 7.5 | 10.7 | 17.7 | 17.7 | 15.6 |
| Interpersonal Communication | 7.8 | 9.7 | 6.4 | 13.2 | 5.6 | 7.5 |
| Entertainment | 6.8 | 3.6 | 8.1 | 12.7 | 6.7 | 7.4 |
| Leisure Reading | 6.3 | 1.5 | 5.8 | 10.3 | 8.7 | 5.6 |
| Other Activities | 4.9 | 1.2 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 7.4 |
| Keeping up with the News | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 6.9 | 4.3 | 5.0 |
| Education | 3.9 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
| Web other than for News | 3.6 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 4.1 |
| Social Media and Networks | 2.8 | 1.4 | 2.5 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 3.8 |
| Creating, Managing Content | 2.4 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.7 |
| Financial Activities | 2.2 | 1.3 | 3.1 | 1.7 | 4.0 | 2.9 |
| E-Commerce | 2.6 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 1.8 | 2.2 |
| *Plus indicates that a majority of these device owners also used other mobile media devices. | ||||||
**The specific terminology used in the survey for each category of activities can be found at the end of this report. | ||||||
Average hours of usage by all owners (users and non-users): The following table summarizes the average number of hours of usage per week for all mobile device owners ages 55 or older. The average hours in this table include actual users as well as those who did not engage in these activities.
| ALL USERS 55 OR OLDER | AVERAGE HOURS PER WEEK OVERALL | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ACTIVITY CATEGORIES** | All Mobile Devices | Smart Phone Only | Apple iPad Plus* | Small Tablet Plus* | E-Reader Plus* | Other Mobile Plus* |
Interpersonal Communication | 6.3 | 9.0 | 5.7 | 8.8 | 3.8 | 6.5 |
| Entertainment | 3.9 | 1.3 | 6.6 | 9.2 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| Leisure Reading | 3.6 | 0.3 | 4.2 | 9.2 | 8.3 | 3.2 |
| Work Related | 3.4 | 2.1 | 5.2 | 6.9 | 3.9 | 6.3 |
| Keeping up with the News | 2.3 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.0 | 3.4 |
| Web other than for News | 2.3 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 3.2 |
| Social Media and Networks | 1.2 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 2.5 |
| Creating, Managing Content | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.5 |
| Financial Actvities | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| E-Commerce | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 1.1 |
| Education | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Other Activities | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| *Plus indicates that a majority of these device owners also used other mobile media devices. | ||||||
**The specific terminology used in the survey for each category of activities can be found at the end of this report. | ||||||
Survey Terminology Used for Each Category of Activities
In the past 7 days, approximately how many hours in total did you devote to the following activities with all of the mobile media devices you used:
Interpersonal Communication: Interpersonal communications such as voice, email, texting, tweeting
Entertainment: Entertainment such as playing games, watching movies or videos, listening to music
Leisure Reading: Leisure reading such as books, magazines, journals
Work Related: Work related activities other than interpersonal communications
Keeping up with the News: Keeping up with local, national or international news mostly provided by news organizations using Web browsers, smartphone or tablet apps, twitter, RSS feeds
Web other than for News: Accessing the Web for information other than news provided by news organizations
Social Media and Networks: Participating in social media and networks
Creating, Managing Content: Creating, editing or managing non-work or education related content such as documents, photos, videos, music
Financial Activities: Financial activities, such as banking, paying bills, checking market activity, managing investments
E-Commerce: Electronic commerce, such as shopping, ordering, making reservations
Education: Education related activities, for example, reading textbooks and course materials, managing courses, taking tests, creating reports
Other Activities: Any other activities you devoted time to with the mobile media devices in the past 7 days that I have not mentioned
Related Stories
2012 RJI Mobile Media Research Report
Q5: How do mobile and non-mobile media users perceive the news media and journalists?
August 23, 2012
2012 RJI Mobile Media Research Report
Q4: How do owners of different mobile media media device brands differ?
July 30, 2012
Donald W. Reynolds