New York, NY, November 16, 2005-–Newspaper websites grew 11 percent year-over-year to 39.3 million unique visitors in October 2005, comprising 26 percent of the active U.S. Internet population, or one out of every four Internet users, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
The 11 percent increase exceeds the growth of the active Internet universe as a whole, which rose three percent year-over-year.
This research follows on the heels of last week’s news of the recent six-month decline in average weekday print circulation among America’s top 20 largest newspapers, as reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. According to Nielsen//NetRatings @Plan Fall 2005 release, among online adults who read either a print or online newspaper, 22 percent shifted their readership references from offline to online sources. The majority of readers, 71 percent, still prefer print newspapers, while seven percent divide their time evenly between the two sources.
“The growth among newspaper Web sites demonstrates that these entities offer unique incentives to visitors,” said Gerry Davison, senior media analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. “Most, if not all of the top newspaper sites offer interactivity such as blogs, podcasts and streaming video/audio. These interactive features, combined with Internet users’ thirst for up-to-date information, make newspaper Web sites an increasingly appealing choice for news.”
More men than women read online newspapers; they constituted 56 percent of newspaper site readership in October, compared with women who made up 44 percent of online readers. People with an income between $100,000 and $150,000 and those with a bachelor’s or postgraduate degree were also likely to visit online newspapers, comprising 21 percent and 52 percent of visitors, respectively.
