Financial Times' Mobile Site Broadens Readership to Morning and Evening Hours - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Financial Times' Mobile Site Broadens Readership to Morning and Evening Hours

by

The Financial Times' web app has drawn more than 1 million readers since June, growing by 300,000 readers since late September. However, the raw numbers don't tell the whole story.

In its press release about breaking the 1 million mark, the FT staff built an infographic with data from its mobile website. 20 percent of FT page views are from mobile devices, and 15 percent of its digital consumer subscriptions initiate on mobile, showing that the paper is having good luck attracting readers to its pricey business-focused readership.

ftinfographic
But most revealing is this chart showing the distribution of readership broken out by time-of-day and whether readers were using a smartphone, tablet, or reading on a desktop. As a financial paper, this data reflects the behavior of a higher-income, white-collar readership.

Smartphone and tablet readership spikes in the morning, then drops as readers use their desktops to keep up with the news during the day, then tablet use rises in the evening as users commute and arrive home.

Top Rated Comments

189 months ago
The colors of the icons for smartphone and tablets are switched when you move from the icons to the graph. Presumably the dark red signifies smart phones in the graph (pink for tablet), although it's unclear given the confused icon colors.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BJB Productions Avatar
189 months ago
I don't use this app, but I find this to be pretty true for me. Phone in the morning; not a lot of time, so just whip it out. Computer during day/work hours, and then snuggle up with the iPad later at night.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AmpSkillz Avatar
189 months ago
The colors of the icons for smartphone and tablets are switched when you move from the icons to the graph. Presumably the dark red signifies smart phones in the graph (pink for tablet), although it's unclear given the confused icon colors.
Desktop and tablet also have text which is the same color as the icon but smartphone has the same color text as tablet, so they were not just switched.The tablet icon looks like a large version of their smartphone icon. They actually used a different tablet graphic above this graph in the original uncropped version of this infographic. (Original (http://9to5mac.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/financial-times-web-app-usage-full-infographic.jpg))

My guess is that they were in a hurry and simply enlarged the smartphone icon for the tablet icon and and meant to recolor one of them, but recolored the wrong one and forgot the text.

I would like to know which color really goes with which device.
Assuming that coloring is the only mistake and that positioning on the graph is accurate, this is what it should look like.

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
5H3PH3RD Avatar
189 months ago
Wow, this makes the blog? Is this not common sense? I can't say those graphs,surprise me, if you'd ask me to draw you said graph that's what I'd have drawn, Mr Golson struggling for things to write.....
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coder12 Avatar
189 months ago
The colors of the icons for smartphone and tablets are switched when you move from the icons to the graph. Presumably the dark red signifies smart phones in the graph (pink for tablet), although it's unclear given the confused icon colors.

No kidding.

Consistency. It's a good thing.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mrsir2009 Avatar
189 months ago
Looks like people go on the website at work on their work desktops, and before & after work on their tablet or smartphone.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 27 on iPhone 17 1

iOS 27 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday May 2, 2026 8:43 am PDT by
Apple is expected to unveil iOS 27 during its WWDC 2026 keynote on June 8, and there are already many rumored features and changes for iPhones. The first developer beta of iOS 27 will likely be available immediately following the keynote, and a public beta typically follows in July. Following beta testing, the software update should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in...
Apple Event Logo

Apple Just Released a New Accessory

Monday May 4, 2026 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today released a new Pride Edition Sport Loop for the Apple Watch. The band features a rainbow design with 11 colors of woven nylon yarns. The new Pride Edition Sport Loop is available to order now on Apple.com and in the Apple Store app in 40mm, 42mm, and 46mm sizes, and it will be available at Apple Store locations starting later this week. In the U.S., the band costs $49. There...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

Why You Might Want to Wait to Buy a MacBook Pro

Friday May 1, 2026 3:43 pm PDT by
Apple refreshed the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max models in March 2026, but depending on your needs and interests, you might want to skip this generation because there's something better in the works. The M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models have faster chips, but the same design that Apple has used since 2021. An updated design with new display technology and faster ...
Related Apple News: Culture | Sport | Buyers Guide | Lifestyle | Education