37 per cent of smartphone users in the EU5 accessed news site via a browser or app in January 2012, according to research from comScore – an increase of 74 per cent over the past year.

That figure was highest in the UK, with 47 per cent having accessed news sites at least once in the past month.

The study, which used the comScore MobiLens service to examine the five leading European markets – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK – also found that 45 per cent of respondents used smartphones over the period. 87 per cent of those used an app, and the same number accessed the mobile web through a browser. Once again, the UK led the way, with roughly half using each.

“The continued growth in smartphone adoption in Europe has fuelled the increasing consumption of news and information on the go,” says Hesham Al-Jehani, comScore Europe product manager for mobile. “Today’s mobile consumer wants to be plugged into what’s happening around them every second of the day, and their smartphones are enabling them to do that. This rapidly changing trend brings with it significant incremental opportunity for news publishers to extend their audiences, but also the challenges of delivering their content effectively through the small screen.”