New research from the Pew Internet & American Life project found that 50% of Americans now own a tablet or e-reader. The number of tablet owners jumped from 34% in September of 2013 to 42% after the holidays, and e-reader ownership jumped from 24% to 32% during the same period.

But contrary to how this data is presented by eMedia Vitals, this does not imply that subscription content sites need to move swiftly to tablet or e-reader platforms.

The data from Pew clearly states that eBook consumption and reading have gone up – news and other periodical publications were not surveyed.

That doesn’t mean that consumers aren’t moving towards tablet and mobile formats for news consumption. But they may still prefer mobile- and tablet-friendly websites versus tablet and mobile apps, which take up hard drive space on devices. Plus, subscription sales through devices still have a lot of UX kinks to work out.

As we always say, look at your own analytics and examine how your subscribers use your specific content before developing your mobile strategy.