Sandhya Raman talks to Louis Gump, vice president of CNN Mobile.

FierceMobileContent: How does CNN profit from mobile?

Gump: Advertising is the primary financial growth provider for CNN Mobile, and it is really that simple. We did launch a paid app on the iPhone in September of 2009 and it was successful. On the other hand, one of the dynamics of the app market is that free apps tend to draw a lot more users. Because advertisers are increasingly interested in the mobile platform, we actually had a stronger revenue pace of the ad-supported app than we did for a paid app at the core product level. And so what we are seeing is that advertising is to fund products across our portfolio.

I would also say however, if I interpret your question a little more broadly and more than just financial in nature, that mobile enriches the ways that consumers can access CNN. We can do things on mobile platforms that other people can't do. And I can give you a couple examples of that. One of them is about a week ago when the news came through about [Osama] bin Laden [when he was killed]. Sunday night 10-11 o'clock at night, a lot of people had turned off their TVs and were going to bed, they got alerts on their phones and immediately checked their iPads or phones, or Android devices or they went to their TV. And they went to tune in and they got their news sooner because of the unique capabilities of phones.

And the second aspect of this is that a major portion of what we price is our iReport. IReport is our citizen journalism tool. What happens is that we are getting incredible submissions via these mobile devices which are not only becoming a part of the iReport content community, but are used extensively on air on CNN. So not only is it enriching the consumer experience but it is also contributing content that we never could have had otherwise.

You can read the full interview from Fierce Mobile Content here.