Tablets to the rescue for publishers?

Tablet usage is soaring—and that could be good news for publishers looking to the devices to push the future of content consumption. A recent comScore study found that tablets have reached a “critical mass” in the U.S., with one in four smartphone owners also using tablets in the three-month period ending in April. “Tablets are one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies in history and are poised to fundamentally disrupt the way people engage with the digital world both on-the-go and perhaps most notably, in the home,” Mark Donovan, comScore SVP of mobile, said in a statement. Tablet usage among smartphone owners has more than doubled in the past year, rising from 9.7 percent in 2011 to 23.6 percent this year. Comparatively, just 10.4 percent of feature phone owners also use a tablet, “suggesting that smartphone ownership is highly predictive of tablet adoption in the current market,” according to comScore.

Meanwhile, a separate study from eMarketer forecasts the number of U.S. tablet users to nearly double this year to 53.2 million, or a 90 percent increase. The reason for most of the growth? iPad-hungry consumers. This year, the iPad will continue to be in the hands of more than three-quarters of all tablet users in the country, according to the report. eMarketer predicts that by 2015, the number of iPad users will increase just under 12 percent. By then, a whopping one-third of all U.S. Internet users will have their own shiny iPad.

• Half Of Tablet Users Watch Video At Least Monthly: Study (Multichannel)

• U.S. tablet usage hits ‘critical mass,’ ComScore reports (CNET News)

• Majority of Tablet Users Watch Video on their Device, 1 in Every 4 Viewers Pay to Watch (comScore release)

• eMarketer: U.S. Tablet Users Double To 70 Million In 2012 (MediaPost)

• There will be over 53 million iPad users in the US by year end: eMarketer (The Next Web)