AccuWeather recently recorded more than 17 million daily page views on its mobile site and 14 million application page views, showing the healthy appetite from consumers to access weather content through their handsets.

On July 18, AccuWeather broke its digital record with 47 million page views on its mobile and Web properties. The numbers represent traffic to AccuWeather?s ad-supported properties.

?Everyone has their mobile device on hand and weather is always affecting people,? said Jim Candor, executive vice president and chief business officer at AccuWeather, State College, PA.

?We have more usage on mobile than we have on the Web by a significant margin,? he said.

Mobile increase
In addition to the mobile numbers, traffic to AccuWeather?s Web site hit 16 million page views on July 18.

According to Mr. Candor, traffic to AccuWeather?s mobile site is up 100 percent year-over-year.

Mobile app usage is up 50 percent from last year, per the exec.

Although desktop traffic has increased as well with a 25 percent yearly growth, mobile is a particularly fast-growing segment for the company.

AccuWeather has apps for iPhone, iPad, Android smartphones and tablets, BlackBerry and Windows 7 devices.

On-the-go weather
Interestingly, the executive said that the company has a strong BlackBerry following, likely from the company?s launch of a supported app last year.

AccuWeather sees the majority of smartphone activity coming from Android, given the large number of devices from the operating system available on the market.

The company has a Windows 8 app in the pipeline for both mobile and desktop.

When it comes to how users are accessing AccuWeather, mobile users tend to spend less time on apps and sites than desktop users.

Although mobile metrics are not as detailed as Web metrics, the company estimates that users look at an average of four to five pages each time they visit and are also likely coming back multiple times per day.

AccuWeather has been in the mobile space for a while.

Earlier this year the company revamped its iPad app for simpler user navigation, including detailed forecast information as well as lifestyle-based content.

The app was sponsored by Courtyard at Marriott at launch (see story).

Additionally, in 2010 the company integrated with multiple Ringleader Digital mobile advertising platforms to improve ad targeting and tracking on its mobile site (see story).

Weather is constantly ranked as a top app category and tends to be repeatedly used by consumers, which shows how certain traditional desktop activities have migrated primarily to mobile.

?We see mobile continuing to grow rapidly as we grow nationally and internationally,? Mr. Candor said.

?We want to be where the market is,? he said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York