Save 50% on a 3-month Digiday+ membership. Ends Dec 5.
So-called “mobile-first” publishers get a majority of their traffic from non-desktop devices, but they’re finding that ad revenues aren’t following suit.
Despite the fact that services such as Twitter, Pandora, and The Weather Channel now say around half of their usage comes from mobile, few extract anything close to half of their revenues from the channel. For example, during its earnings call yesterday Pandora reported that 70 percent of all listening now happens on mobile or “non-traditional” devices. Despite that fact, only around half of its advertising revenues comes from mobile, suggesting it’s essentially being propped up by other channels, such as online.
According to data from Facebook, around a third of its traffic now comes from mobile devices, while Twitter reports that it accounts for over half of published tweets. Those companies have to done little to nothing to monetize their mobile audiences to date, even though they continue to grow.
One company that’s proud to tout its mobile focus is the Weather Channel. According to ComScore, the firm’s desktop site racked up 1.1 billion page views in October, while 1.3 billion pages were viewed using phones or tablets. It’s unclear whether its ad sales mix has kept pace, although that’s highly unlikely by all indications. The Weather Channel was unavailable for comment.
Despite the hype around mobile, the fact remains that it’s just harder to extract revenues there. Marketers and advertisers have yet to dedicate substantial budgets to the medium, and consumers are now used to receiving mobile content for free. Mobile ad rates aren’t exactly the highest either. That leaves publishers in the position of having to follow their audiences but without much assurance that doing so will benefit their businesses. As a result Pandora, for one, is reluctant to place all of its eggs in that basket.
“We’re focused on ensuring a great, personalized radio experience for any person, anytime, anywhere — regardless of device — so each way people can stream Pandora has our attention,” a spokesperson said.
More in Media
Digiday+ Research Subscription Index 2025: Subscription strategies from Bloomberg, The New York Times, Vox and others
Digiday’s third annual Subscription Index examines and measures publishers’ subscription strategies to identify common approaches and key tactics among Bloomberg, The New York Times, Vox and others.
From lawsuits to lobbying: How publishers are fighting AI
We may be closing out 2025, but publishers aren’t retreating from the battle of AI search — some are escalating it, and they expect the fight to stretch deep into 2026.
Media Briefing: Publishers turn to vertical video to compete with creators and grow ad revenue in 2026
Publishers add vertical video feeds to their sites to boost engagement, attract video ad spend and compete with news creators.
Ad position: web_bfu