EXCLUSIVE: Newspaper Sites' Time Spent Dropped in October

By: Jennifer Saba Not only did the number of unique visitors fall during the month of October, but the time spent per person at the top 30 newspaper Web sites dropped as well.

The average time spent over the course of October at NYTimes.com, for example, dropped to 15 minutes and 34 seconds. In October 2008, the time spent at the site was 40 minutes. But there was a lot of big news happening then, with the election campaign in full swing and financial crisis as everyday concern.

At the Houston Chronicle, the average time spent fell by half in October compared to the same month last year. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel boasted of an average time spent per user of more than 44 minutes in October 2008. It was down to 13 minutes in October 2009.

For the sites that did increase the average time spent, generally speaking it was up by a few minutes.

The data should be viewed with caution, Nielsen emphasized. As of June 2009, the measurement firm vastly expanded its panel -- making it eight times larger. As a result, Nielsen warns that year-over-year trending could be affected for some sites. Additionally, spikes in uniques and other events could affect time spent.

Below is the average time spent per person in October 2009 compared with October 2008, ranked by unique users.

For the September list, go here. (Nielsen Online and E&P are both owned by The Nielsen Co.).

Site -- Oct. '09 (hour:minute:second) -- Oct. '08

NYTimes.com -- 0:15:34 -- 0:40:00
USATODAY.com -- 0:14:01 -- 0:19:31
washingtonpost.com -- 0:11:38 -- 0:14:52
Wall Street Journal Online -- 0:07:33 -- 0:13:34
LA Times -- 0:08:25 -- 0:08:59

Daily News Online Edition -- 0:06:55 -- 0:05:22
Boston.com -- 0:15:37 -- 0:12:59
Chicago Tribune -- 0:13:47 -- 0:09:04
SFGate.com/San Francisco Chronicle -- 0:09:30 -- 0:13:03
New York Post -- 0:09:57 -- 0:08:52

DallasNews.com - The Dallas Morning News -- 0:08:50 -- 0:03:58
Politico -- 0:07:44 -- 0:18:44
TBO.com -- 0:04:52 -- 0:10:57
Chicago Sun-Times -- 0:06:29 -- 0:05:02
NJ.com -- 0:09:09 -- 0:02:50

Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- 0:18:40 -- 0:18:16
Newsday -- 0:08:48 -- 0:05:32
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- 0:13:00 -- 0:44:17
Star Tribune -- 0:20:23 -- 0:24:40
denverpost.com -- 0:06:25 -- 0:08:07

Philly.com -- 0:08:23 -- 0:06:24
MercuryNews.com -- 0:04:38 -- 0:05:30
The Houston Chronicle -- 0:14:10 -- 0:30:01
MiamiHerald.com -- 0:06:04 -- 0:05:12
The Washington Times -- 0:05:17 -- 0:04:16

KansasCity.com -- 0:08:58 -- 0:04:43
Seattle Times Company Online Network -- 0:14:15 -- 0:07:24
Baltimore Sun -- 0:07:02 -- 0:05:56
tampabay.com -- 0:06:23 -- 0:05:04
Orlando Sentinel -- 0:07:12 -- 0:06:22