Changing media consumption habits are keeping The Guardian on its toes. Understanding where readers are consuming its news and features is key to understanding where its content needs to be.

The release of Apple’s iPhone came as an epiphany. As mobile business director Steve Wing told the audience at Marketing Week Live, it became palpable very quickly that more and more people were going to view the newspaper’s website on mobile devices. “It was, technically, one of those ‘oh shit’ moments, where you realise that everything has changed.”

The Guardian has learned much about the new digital habits of its mobile users. For example, between 60% and 70% of those using Guardian iPhone and iPad apps return to them several times a day – many more than its readers of other formats. “These are our brand advocates of the future,” Wing says.

For The Guardian, which is now a ‘digital first’ news organisation, separate editorial products have different audiences and objectives, even where they host many of the same articles. For example, Wing says the free-to-view website is a generalist ‘broadcast’ medium, while mobile apps, often paid-for, are more specialist ‘narrowcast’ vehicles.

The rise of mobile has been accompanied by a proliferation of media platforms across the web. The consequence is that media brands can no longer expect consumers to seek them out, but must have a presence anywhere that their users – and their competitors – are willing to venture.

“People expect to find The Guardian on Facebook, as much as they expect to find us on Google+, and as much as they expect to find us on YouTube. They will expect to find you at least in a mobile-optimised form,” says Wing.

News consumption is dominated by mobiles in the morning, while Facebook and Guardian.co.uk perform better at lunchtime, according to Wing. The Guardian is now working on how it needs to change its news operations in response.

“How do you commission your stories for different audiences at different times of the day? How do you schedule differently for the weekend if you’re not just talking about sport?” asks Wing.

Among The Guardian’s forthcoming product plans are an expansion of the number of apps aimed at specialist users, and the ability to make additional purchases within apps. But Wing admits that the additional money it expects to make from mobile products won’t replace that being lost from print advertising, judging by current estimates. “The amount of mobile ad revenue does not match the time people are spending there. That’s a big disjoint that needs fixing.”

The Guardian continues to lose more money every year, and is expected to announce a loss of £45m for the year to March 2012. Understanding consumer behaviour is key to its growth but it is a brand that still has some way to go to work out its place in the world of fragmented media.