New Study Ranks Newspapers on Crucial 'Integrated' Readership

By: Jennifer Saba More people are exclusively reading newspapers online, growing readership anywhere from 2% to 15%, a new study from Scarborough Research finds.

This is the second report from the marketing research firm that looks at the increasingly important weekly-integrated newspaper audience -- readers of print, online or both -- for the 12 months ending 2005. Scarborough based the study on the largest papers in the top 25 Designated Market Areas (DMA) in the U.S.

"When we look at individual markets, the general trend is that the online audience is growing -- not by leaps and bounds -- but growing [while] the print audience is on a slow and steady decline," said Gary Meo, senior vice president, print and Internet services at Scarborough.

In fall 2005, Scarborough released its first integrated audience report for the same 25 DMAs but the study was based on six-months of research. This newest study looks at yearly data. (Scarborough said they could provide comparable six-month data by market within a few months,)

As for overall newspaper reach, The Washington Post topped the study. Sixty-eight percent of the market reads the print, online, or both versions on a weekly basis. Three percent of those surveyed read the online site only while 17% read both the print and the Web site in a given week.

The Sun in Baltimore has an integrated audience that reaches 59% of the total market. About 7% read both the print and online product while 2% read the Web site exclusively.

The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News reach 60% of the market when taking the print and online versions into account.

Thirty-two percent of the Boston market reads The Boston Globe exclusively in prin, plus 4% read Boston.com only while 10% read both the print version and Web site.

Meo said there are several reasons that readership reach deviates among markets. Some publications and regions serve special interests. For example, people might read the Washington Post for politics or the Los Angeles Times for entertainment news.

Broadband penetration also serves a roll in newspaper Web site reach, as does the number of newspapers based in a given DMA.

The research also bears out that audiences reading newspaper Web sites tend to be younger than those reading printed newspapers. Looking at some of the markets measured, The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, for example, reaches 30% of adults 18-to-24 online while only 22% of that demo reads the print product.

Here are newspapers in the study ranked by integrated audience reach -- again, those who read the print edition, online edition, or both on a weekly basis. To download a copy of the story click here.

The Washington Post: 68%
The San Diego Union-Tribune: 64%
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 63%
The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.: 61%
Star Tribune, Minneapolis: 61%
The Denver Post/Rocky Mountain News: 60%
The Arizona Republic, Phoenix: 59%
The Sun, Baltimore: 59%
The Detroit News/Detroit Free Press: 59%
Houston Chronicle: 57%
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 54%
The Plain Dealer, Cleveland: 51%
The Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald: 50%
Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel: 49%
Pittsburgh Post Gazette: 49%
Chicago Tribune: 47%
The Boston Globe: 46%
The Seattle Times/The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: 46%
The Dallas Morning News: 45%
The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee: 41%
The Philadelphia Inquirer: 39%
Los Angeles Times: 38%
San Francisco Chronicle: 38%
St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times: 37%
The Tampa Tribune: 35%
The New York Times: 28%