April 12, 2006

Newspaper websites had considerable growth last year, according to the 2006 Newspaper Audience Database (NAD Base) spring survey from the Newspaper Association of America.

Specifically, about 33 percent of Internet users visit newspaper websites at least once a month.

That's approximately 54.6 million visitors to online sites compared with the 115.8 million who buy a paper edition of the newspaper over the course of any given week.

"All newspapers are pretty aggressive, from "The New York Times" down to smaller papers.

"The Naples Daily News" launched Webcasts, creating local TV news on their site," said Randy Bennett, VP of audience and new business development at the Newspaper Association of America. "I think it's having an impact on growing their online audience."

Last year, unique visitors to newspaper's online sites increased 21 percent. In the same time period, page views went up 43 percent. The report also found newspaper Web sites increased the total newspaper audience. Counted in the increase is a 14 percent rise in the 25 to 34 year-old demographic, and nine percent more readers in the 18 to 24 year-old age group.

"Newspapers are starting to pick up audiences that may not have been totally engaged in the first place, that's particularly relevant in the younger demographic that may not have been picking up the print paper," said Bennett.

The NAD Base aggregates its newspaper Web site data from Nielsen//NetRatings for the 100-plus newspapers represented in most major markets. Print data are from Media Ratings Council-accredited Scarborough Research.

Source: Click Z