Study shows smartphone owners reading fewer newspapers but more newspaper content

The Guardian has an interesting report on the mixed blessings that smartphones bring to newspapers. A study by British telecom company Orange shows that a significant number of smartphone users (14%) read fewer newspapers, but almost as many (13%) read more newspaper content online.

(Interestingly, 16% of those surveyed read fewer magazines, but none said they read more magazine content online.)

These results highlight the problems that newspapers are facing as more consumers get used to reading digitally—the readers are migrating away from the more lucrative physical newspapers and toward the less-monetizable on-line world. And if the survey does show that some people are getting into the habit of making expensive purchases online, that’s small consolation to an industry struggling to make on-line advertising pay.