THURSDAY AM BUZZ: Good industry news from NAA on readership of newspaper websites

Jeff Sigmund

Director of Communications

April 26, 2011

Arlington, Va. – Newspaper publishers drove tremendous traffic to their websites in this year’s first quarter, attracting an average monthly audience of 108.3 million unique visitors - - nearly two-thirds (63.9 percent) of all adult Internet users.

The analysis, performed by comScore for the Newspaper Association of America, also indicates that newspaper websites continue to attract key demographics and affluent consumers, reaching 60.4 percent of 25-to-34-year-olds and 74.4 percent of adults in households earning more than $100,000 a year on average throughout the quarter.

The findings also point toward audience engagement, with newspaper website visitors generating an average of 4.3 billion page views each month, spending nearly 3.7 billion minutes browsing the sites. March was particularly strong, with newspaper websites attracting more than 113 million unique visitors who generated more than 4.5 billion page views during a month marked by significant world events.

“These figures demonstrate newspaper websites’ ongoing power to attract large and sophisticated audiences in the digital space,” said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm. “It is noteworthy that in March, with the world focused on major global events in the Middle East and Japan, readers sought out newspapers for high-quality content they can trust in today’s environment.”

Figures released by NAA in March revealed that online advertising generated $878 million for newspapers in last year’s fourth quarter, a 14 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.

From comScore:

Newspaper Website Ads Rank Ahead of Portals, Search Engines and Social Media

The latest comScore figures come on the heels of new data indicating consumers rank ads on local newspaper websites ahead of portals, search engines and social media when it comes to online options for advertising sources. The findings, part of a Frank N. Magid Associates survey of 2,500 adults*, also indicate that newspaper advertising is the leading advertising medium cited by consumers in planning, shopping and making purchasing decisions.

The study, titled “How America Shops and Spends 2011,” is the latest in an ongoing series of NAA research investigating consumer shopping habits and the influence media has on shopping today. It found that newspaper ads rank first in driving consumers to take action, with four-in-five adults (79 percent) surveyed saying they “took action” as a result of newspaper advertising in past month, including:

• Clipping a coupon (54 percent)
• Buying something (46 percent)
• Visiting Web sites to learn more (37 percent)
• Trying something for the first time (20 percent)

The full study is available here.

*Frank N. Magid Associates, based in Minneapolis, conducted this phone and Internet survey of 2,502 adults for the Newspaper Association of America.