Smartphones and tablets are driving growth for TV Guide, as well as bringing in new audiences and advertisers.

According to TV Guide, January has been a record-breaking month for the company with more than 16.5 million monthly users. Furthermore, the company has more than one million registered Watchlist users.

?I think the habit of watching television for mobile devices has very quickly has become a key component of the viewing experience,? said Christy Tanner, CEO of TV Guide Digital. ?We know that people are using our apps to discover and they?re watching videos via our apps.

?I think we?re going to see a shakeout in the second-screen space,? she said. ?There has been a lot of investment in some products that have not taken off and we?re starting to see some consolidation in the space.

?We?re really happy with where the company is in that category and we did a lot of research into what the audience wanted before we re-launched our products.?

TV Guide Digital includes TVGuide.com, reaching more than 16.5 million unique visitors per month, and TV Guide mobile applications for iPhone, Android, and iPad with 8.5 million installations and more than 2.5 million active users.

Mobile success
TV Guide found that monthly active smartphone and tablet app users and registered Watchlist users have doubled since TV Guide Digital re-launched its iOS application in August.

Streaming video discovery via TVGuide.com and its smartphone and tablet apps has accelerated, with plays increasing 50 percent since September, per Ms. Tanner.

?Mobile is essential to who we are as a company and it has been for over three to four years now,? Ms. Tanner said. ?We?ve been very active in developing mobile products for a long time.

?We look at mobile as a core component of our business in every way,? she said. ?The most exciting thing that I can say about it is that advertising revenue is really taking off particularly in the mobile app space.

?With the percentage of advertising deals we do, the deals that include a mobile app component has doubled from the fourth-quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013.?

Driving engagement
TV Guide has been making mobile a critical part of its strategy.

Last year, TV Guide debuted its next-generation, television companion application that offered users a more personalized mobile and social experience.

The mobile app serves as a one-stop shop for a user?s television needs (see story).

?We?re re-launching our Android app in early Q2 and we?ll have some new features,? Ms. Tanner said. ?And we?ll be refinishing our iOS app sometime in the summer.?

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York