Data analysis shows major world news is increasingly delivered and consumed through push notifications
Mobile growth company Urban Airship announced that in the 24 hours surrounding Election Day it delivered 2.5bn push notifications—its highest daily volume ever. While Urban Airship powers more than 45,000 apps across every industry vertical, subsequent data analysis shows that more than 400 media apps were responsible for 60% of this record volume, sending 1.5bn push notifications in a single day as election results were tracked and reported.
The US presidential election is not the first time media apps contributed to new daily records in push notification volumes—results of the EU Referendum vote, commonly referred to as Brexit, saw media apps send more than 530m push notifications in a single day.
In the past year, average notification opt-in rates for media apps have also increased from 41% to 43%, demonstrating growing if not consistent consumer receptivity. Urban Airship’s notification volume now exceeds more than one billion per day on average. The company anticipates these massive volume gains will grow exponentially.
“News notifications hold a special place in our heart as there’s no clearer demonstration of how critical speed and reliability are as news even minutes old is old news and immediately recognized as such by hundreds of millions of people,” said Brett Caine, president and CEO, Urban Airship. “As more businesses harness mobile to re-imagine marketing as real-time customer service, our unparalleled ability to spark in-the-moment experiences at exactly the right time is a tremendous and unmatched advantage.”
“We spend a lot of time at breaking news thinking about the speed, relevancy and accuracy of news in the mobile age,” said Cory Bergman, co-founder and GM, breaking news (an NBC News Company). “From our team to our technology, we take great pride in being first to alert readers of news that’s important to them by both topic and proximity, and Urban Airship is a trusted partner in helping us deliver on that promise.”