MTV Increased Mobile Traffic By 92% With A Responsive Redesign [REPORT]

Not every major brand has jumped on the responsive design bandwagon yet — take MTV for example. MTV recently redesigned several of its web properties with responsive design, and is seeing tremendous results so far.

Luke Wroblewski, a product manager at Google, published the impact of MTV’s redesign on his personal blog, documenting the effect it has had on mobile traffic and social referrals.

Redesign of MTV Shows Page

The responsive design of MTV’s show pages resulted in:

• 92% increase in mobile visits
• 55% increase in mobile page views per visit
• 297% increase in time spent per visit
• 246% increase in social referrals
• 11% drop in exit rates (all devices)

Certain data points indicate that tablets and desktops were more alike in terms of user behavior than mobile and tablet, particularly in regards to video viewing.

Redesign of MTV News Page

The responsive design of MTV’s news site resulted in:

• 565% increase in social referrals
• 151% increase in site visits
• 137% increase in time spent on site

As the report points out, the increase in social referrals is an indication that the responsive redesign helped transform MTV’s editorial products into a socially driven experience, when before they were more search focused.

The increase in site visits is a possible example of how redoing your site with a responsive design can bring in more mobile traffic. Google recently started placing a ‘mobile-friendly’ label next to responsive sites in its mobile search results, which could certainly have an affect on click-through rate.

Without more details this data is purely anecdotal, we don’t know if MTVs new mobile site visits were coming from organic search, direct visits, or referrals from other websites. But it’s still a good case study to look at if you’re on the fence about investing in responsive design.