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.

MacRumors content image
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

Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Apple Card Promo to Offer Free AirPods Pro 3

Friday May 15, 2026 8:59 am PDT by
Starting as early as next week, customers who sign up for an Apple Card at Apple's retail stores in the U.S. will receive $249 cash back when they purchase AirPods Pro 3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The promotion has yet to be officially announced by Apple, so exact terms and conditions are not available at this time. AirPods Pro 3 are priced at $249 in the U.S., so customers who...
airpods pro 3 pink

New Apple Card Holders Can Get Free AirPods Pro 3, But There's a Catch

Monday May 18, 2026 8:11 am PDT by
Apple today launched a new promotion offering new Apple Card holders the chance to earn back the cost of AirPods Pro 3 through monthly cash rebates, but there is a recurring spend requirement attached. Customers who open a new Apple Card account and purchase AirPods Pro 3 directly from Apple by June 15 will qualify. Starting July 1 and running through April 30, 2027, cardholders can earn $25 ...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Foldable iPhone Production Stalls Amid Hinge Issues

Monday May 18, 2026 7:29 am PDT by
Trial production of Apple's long-anticipated foldable iPhone, likely called the "iPhone Ultra," has run into a significant engineering hurdle centered on hinge reliability, according to a known leaker. The leaker known as "Instant Digital" posted on Weibo that the foldable device's hinge is consistently failing to meet Apple's quality control standards under conditions of prolonged,...