Smartphone owners are nearly split between laptops and smartphones as their primary news device, according to new research from the Pew Research Center.

The use of mobile devices to access news is growing but desktop and laptop access still remains dominant as consumers with multiple devices use a combination of all of these to get their news, according to the report. The findings show that 46 percent of smartphone owners still get most of their news on the desktop and laptop while 45 percent get most on their news via a smartphone.

?What we see is the establishing of the mobile era of news,? said Amy Mitchell, deputy director of the Pew Research Center?s Project for Excellence in Journalism, Washington.

?Over a quarter of the population is now getting news on a mobile device and nearly as many are getting news on multiple digital devices,? she said.

?The results show that the degree to which people are getting news on these devices seems to be adding to news consumption as opposed to merely replacing it. The vast majority is still getting news on a desktop or laptop and is not necessarily abandoning their old ways of getting news.?

Implications for advertisers
By device, 51 percent of smartphone owners use their phones for news, 56 percent of tablet owners use the devices for news while 70 percent of desktop and laptop owners get news on their computers.

While the desktop or laptop computer is the primary digital channel for news, the number of consumers who get news on multiple digital devices is growing.

The report shows that 23 percent of U.S. consumers get news on at least two devices, with 34 percent of desktop and laptop news consumers now also getting news on a smartphone while 27 percent of smartphone news consumers also get news on a tablet.

Of tablet owners, 47 percent still get most of their digital news via desktops or laptops, while 34 percent have already transitioned to consuming most of their news on the tablet.

The findings have implications for advertisers, who care about unique visitors, depth of consumption and time spent with a medium when making their buying decisions.

?News apps are highly engaging products by design because they promote new content on every open, rewarding the reader for returning,? said Kunal Gupta, CEO at Polar Mobile, Toronto.

?Advertisers stuck buying only non-digital ads from media publishers are missing the opportunity to engage with a new, younger and more affluent subset of the traditional viewership,? he said.

?The next wave of purchasing decisions will be made by people who are using their mobile devices to consume content casually today, but who are also growing comfortable transacting from those same devices. Advertisers should be concerned about staking mindshare with these readers and consumers.?

Mobile presence
The report takes a look at how news consumption varies by the type of device used to access it, from desktop and laptops to smartphones and tablets.

The most common way that people get news is by going directly to a news organization?s Web site or app. About a third of smartphone news consumers get news this way on a regular basis while 38 percent of tablet news users go this route.

The reputation of a news organization is the most important factor in determining where users go for news, according to the report. Social media recommendations are not yet a major factor here.

At least 70 percent of those who use a smartphone, tablet or both for news get news using keyword search ?very often or somewhat often.? In comparison, only 48 percent of users who get news on a desktop/laptop computer use keyword search regularly.

The results are based on survey of more than 3,000 United States adults by the Pew Research Center?s Project for Excellence in Journalism

To capitalize on the growth in mobile, the news industry needs to do a better job than it did in the desktop realm of understanding audience behavior and developing technology and revenue models to adapt to mobile use.

?The findings suggest that mobile news is going to be a part of the news landscape,? Ms. Mitchell said. ?At the least, it is another layer for news organizations in terms of the platforms that they need to be able to produce their content on.

?People are adopting mobile devices and news is a part of what they are doing there,? she said. ?To have a presence there in these mobile devices is a way of reaching certainly a good portion of your potential news consumers.?