With 29.5 million unique visits in May, The Weather Channel beat out ESPN and Pandora to be  the leading mobile content destination in May,  according to new research by Nielsen.

Weather as a category also put in a strong performance, with 50 million unique visits, making it the third most popular mobile category behind email and search. The number points to the importance that convenience plays in mobile.

?Mobile is about convenience not about functionality,? said Pete Chelala, mobile specialist for The Weather Channel. ?The Weather Channel is as easy to get as the time on your phone.?

?For all of the key players in mobile, it?s about weather, news, local social news and information,? he said.

All about weather
In May, weather was a more popular category than social in mobile.

One of the main reasons that weather and other convenience-oriented content does so well is that they invite repeat usage.

?A lot of people talk about downloads but the key is the whole usage story,? Mr. Chelala said. ?You could have the hottest game download but it?s not used that often.

?Weather is used multiple times throughout the day and week,? he said.

The top five mobile content brands also includes ESPN, Pandora, Weather Bug and YouTube.

The May numbers showed that the total mobile universe grew 44 percent year-over-year for a total of 111 million unique.

?What?s been consistent for the past few years is that the players are the same, it is just the numbers that keep growing,? Mr. Chelala said.

Mobile email posted a 69 percent year-over-year growth while mobile search grew 39 percent during the same period.

The numbers support the idea that mobile can help drive usage across platforms, per Mr. Chelala.

The company?s own research reveals that viewership for The Weather Channel on cable TV increases 42 percent when a consumer visits the brand on three screens ? the Internet, cable TV and mobile.

Additionally, weather.com usage increases 17 percent when a consumer visits the brand on three screens.

Mobile?s role across platforms is good for advertisers, too.

The Weather Channel ran a campaign around the holidays with Sears than ran across multiple platforms.

?They found that the entire promotion, which ran for close to two months on The Weather Channel cable, weather.com and mobile, saw a 20 percent lift in key brand metrics,? Mr. Chelala said.

?It goes to show that when consumers are spending time across multiple channels with a brand, their loyalty and usage goes up,? he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode, Assoc. Editor, Mobile Marketer