The top types of content smartphone users in the United States access on their devices include weather information, video as well as local and national news, according to the results of a study conducted by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) and Frank N. Magid Associates.
The results, released Aug. 20, revealed that besides making calls, the top use of smartphones was to access content and information. In all, 93 percent of smartphone users regularly access content and information. The study found 47 percent use their device to access weather information, 31 percent turn to their smartphone to watch video, 29 percent reported accessing local news on their devices and 24 percent consumed national news on their phones.
The results also revealed that 59 percent access the Internet with their smartphones and 58 percent check e-mail.
The study found that the 68 percent of smartphone users who watch video on their smartphones regularly watch short-form news and entertainment videos. This includes news, sports, TV show and weather clips. User-generated content was the next largest category with 57 percent of those who watch video on their smartphones accessing UGC.
Smartphone users have strong crossplatform tendencies, the study found. Eighty-four percent identify themselves as two-screen multitaskers, those who watch TV and use a mobile phone or tablet; and 64 percent said they are three-screen multitaskers, that is TV, PC and mobile phone or tablet.
The study also asked respondents about paying for content. It found 24 percent of smartphone users say they have purchased content on their smartphones. Of those 22 percent said they have purchased video, 21 percent reported buying entertainment content, 21 percent bought books and 19 percent paid for weather content.
For the study, Frank N. Magid Associates conducted a nationally represented online survey of 2540 people between 8 and 64 years old. The survey was taken March 19-26.
