By: Jennifer Saba The semi-annual report expected from the Audit Bureau of Circulations next week will show more drops in paid circulation -- but at the least the industry can console itself with the latest online numbers.
The number of unique visitors to newspaper Web sites hit another record high in Q3, up 15.7% to 68.3 million compared to the same period a year ago.
The Newspaper Association of American reported the custom data provided by Nielsen Online (owned by the same parent company as E&P).
Total uniques in the month of August spiked 17% to 69.3 million, thanks partly to the Olympics and the intense interest in the presidential campaign. While the financial crisis loomed large in September, the month was third in terms of unique visitors for Q3 with 67.7 million. In July it was 67.9 million.
Page views for Q3 soared 25% to 3.5 billion compared to the same period a year ago.
Time spent also marched north. The average time spent per user during the quarter was 45 minutes and 49 seconds, up from 41 minutes and 54 sections in Q3 of 2007. This September the average time spent per person was 49 minutes and 20 seconds compared with 43 minutes and 44 seconds. Page views in September were the highest during the quarter to 3.6 billion.
The NAA started tracking newspaper Web site data in 2004. Total unique visitors grew 68.6% in Q3 compared to the same quarter in 2004.
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