By: Newspaper Web sites in seven of the 10 largest U.S. markets grew their audiences faster than their markets' total Web user base, according to research from comScore Media Metrix, a division of comScore Networks Inc. of Reston, Va.
In an analysis of the last six months, the research firm also found that newspaper Web site visitors spend more money online than the average Net user.
In the top designated market area (DMA), New York, the number of unique Internet users increased by only 3% to 9,377,796 in May from 9,025,247 in December 2001. But the New York
Daily News Web site saw unique users increase by 23% in the same time period to 265,617. The
New York Post and
Newsday each experienced user growth of 12% during this period.
In Los Angeles, the
Orange County Register's site increased unique visitors by 12% to 150,465 while the
Los Angeles Times jumped by 11% to 908,354. The DMA's total Net users went up only 3%.
In Chicago, the
Sun-Times Web site's unique users increased by a whopping 38% (to 261,764) while visitors to the
Chicago Tribune's site jumped by 7% (to 406,588), compared with a 3% jump in the number of total Internet users.
Online newspaper audience growth similarly outpaced total Net user growth in San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Washington, Atlanta, and Detroit.
Newspaper Web sites did not exceed the market in audience growth in the Philadelphia, Boston, and Dallas-Fort Worth DMAs.
In a separate analysis of buying power, comScore Media Metrix found that the average visitor to 12 of the 13 measured newspaper sites spends significantly more online than both average Web users and typical visitors to all news and information sites. The firm's Buying Power Index (BPI) is set at 100 for an average site on the total Internet, while all news/information sites have a higher BPI of 137. A site with a BPI of 200 indicates that visitors to that site spend twice as much online as the average Net user.
Many newspaper sites have much higher BPI ratings. Knight Ridder's bayarea.com has a BPI of 326; newsday.com, 311; nypost.com, 280; accessatlanta.com, 255; and sfgate.com, 239.
ComScore Media Metrix samples home, work, and university audiences for its ratings.
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