Newspaper Web sites are doing well and their audience is growing at close to twice the rate of the overall online audience, according to new data from the Newspaper Association of America.
“The fact that the newspaper Web site audience is growing at almost double the rate of the Internet audience as a whole validates the industry’s investment in digital innovation, and the ongoing attraction consumers have to newspapers online,” said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.
“Newspaper publishers have aggressively transformed their business models, continually providing ground-breaking content to consumers with their expanding digital portfolios.”
Data from Nielsen//Netratings revealed that visitors to newspaper Web sites have higher household incomes, shop online more and are more likely to hold a professional or managerial positions than other Internet users.
Close to 12 percent of newspaper Web site visitors have annual household incomes of more than $150,000 compared to 9.3 percent of the overall Internet audience. Around 88 percent have made a purchase online in the last six months compared to 78.9 percent of the remaining Internet audience.
“This data underscores the value newspaper Web sites offer advertisers with their ability to attract a discriminating, high-income audience,” Sturm said.
“The educated, highly engaged consumers who visit these sites for news and research on the latest products are also more likely to make purchases online than other Internet users.”
The data also shows that newspaper Web site visitors use the Internet more frequently in their daily lives and are more technologically adept than the general online audience. Nearly 73 percent are online everyday compared with 57.8 percent of the overall Internet population.
Additionally approximately 42 percent of users who have visited newspaper Web sites have also viewed video online in the past 30 days, compared to 27.4 percent of the overall Internet audience.
