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Cult of Mac leverages touch to drive engagement up 240pc on tablet Web

Apple-focused publisher Cult of Mac has seen a 240 percent increase in the number of page views per visit from smart tablet users since improving its mobile Web experience with more app-like features.

Before optimizing the content consumption experience for iOS users, Cult of Mac was seeing an average of 1.66 page views per visit from touch devices . After integrating Onswipe's solution, readers are more engaged and now access approximately 5.62 page views per visit, a roughly 240 percent increase since the new experience was introduced in November.

?We believe that the tablet is the TV of this generation,? said Jason Baptiste, CEO of Onswipe, New York. ?Mac enthusiast sites are analogous to a channel and Cult of Mac is like its own show.

?By enabling a publisher of any size to deliver a great mobile Web experience that is magazine like, they're taking advantage of what the tablet makes possible,? he said.

?We started Onswipe to support a class of publishers called new influencers - they reach a large audience, are digital pure-plays, and do so in a niche with a very valuable demographic. Cult of Mac is a shining example of this new form of publishing.?

Browser-based consumption
While content consumption via mobile devices is growing, publishers have been challenged to provide strong user experiences that also offer monetization opportunities via subscriptions and advertising.

A recent report from the Pew Research Center found that reading news is one of the most popular activities among tablet and smartphone owners, with 66 percent consuming news on a mobile device. The report also found that 60 percent of tablet news users mainly use the browser to get news on their tablet.

The results from Cult of Mac suggest that users want experiences that are more engaging and that offer touch capabilities when they are consuming content on mobile devices.

Onswipe leverages HTML5 technology to offer an interactive, touch experience optimized for iPads and smart phones in the mobile browser. As a result, u sers can swipe, touch and otherwise engage with the articles and images on the page.

Additionally, when iPad users go to a site, they can experience all the content loaded at once so they do not have to wait for each individual page to load.

The touch Web
The results also potentially open up greater potential monetization opportunities for Cult of Mac to deliver ads to mobile users since readers are spending more time on the site.

Onswipe reports that publishers such as Vibe Media, Bonnier Corporation and Art of Manliness have seen average increases in page views of between 300 and 800 percent as well as a 50 to 100 percent increase in time spent on the site after providing a touch-enabled Web browsing experience using the platform.

?When creating a mobile Web experience, it is not about being responsive and designing for mobile, but instead publishers should be designing for touch,? Mr. Baptiste said. ?Don't build for the mobile Web, build for the touch Web.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York