Digital publishing consultancy Mequoda Group released results of a recent survey that examined the usage and content consumption of tablet owners. According to the survey, the 1,293 respondents are fairly spendy and a significant portion engage with digital magazines on a monthly basis.
Another notable result indicates that 26 percent of respondents prefer the tablet version of the magazine over its print counterpart. The Mequoda team reads a fair amount of significance into this metric, especially given the growth rate of tablet ownership over the last few years.
In fact, in a blog post about the study, Mequoda CEO Don Nicholas predicts that in seven years, 65 percent of U.S adult Internet users will prefer digital magazines to the print version.
The survey also shows that about 47 percent of tablet owners have spent between $1 and $99 in the last 12 months, but 39 percent have spent $100 or more.
Sixty-two percent of respondents identified as iPad owners, while 26 percent said they owned a Kindle Fire—the second-highest device percentage.
Thirteen percent of respondents said they have purchased a digital magazine or subscription in the last 30 days (7 percent bought the single copy and 6 percent bought a subscription).
Whether sales metrics will rise along with that preference metric is another story. But given how quickly publishers are building their tactical knowledge of marketing, pricing and growing their tablet editions and audiences, those singe-digit subscription and single-copy rates will likely expand even as the device market grows along with it.
And, according to the survey, 57 percent of respondents say the tablet is their favorite place to consume content.
For the full survey, click here.
