Traffic Jam: Users at Newspaper Sites Still On Rise

By: Jennifer Saba More than 59.6 million people visited a newspaper Web site in July 2007 -- a 9% increase compared to the same period a year ago, according to new data released by the Newspaper Association of America.

The organization said it was the second largest monthly audience since it began tracking online data -- from Nielsen Online (owned by E&P's parent company) -- in 2004. May 2007 claims the most newspaper monthly visitors at 60.3 million.

Overall Web traffic for newspaper sites for the month of August then slowed slightly to 59.2 million people and in September tit dropped again to 58.1 million.

Of course, newspaper online readership is affected by several factors including seasonality and news events.

For the Q3, the NAA said that more than 59 million people visited newspaper Web sites -- up 3.7% from the same quarter a year ago. Users spent more time on newspaper Web sites in Q3 from an average of more than 43 minutes per month, compared with 40 minutes per month for Q3 in 2006.

"As the newspaper industry moves toward measurement data reflecting the medium's total reach and audience, this analysis is evidence of newspapers' broad appeal in a highly competitive media marketplace," John Sturm, NAA president and CEO, said in a statement.

Indeed, the Audit Bureau of Circulations plans to release its circulation data next week and, in addition to paid print circulation, for the first time, ABC is including online readership for some 200 papers.

The NAA also did an analysis of Scarborough data for the top 50 markets and found that nearly eight out of every 10 adults read a newspaper in print or online each week.

Other findings include:

-- 85% of individuals with a household income of $100,000 or more read a newspaper in print or online each week.

-- Newspapers reached more than 82% of people who made online purchases last year.

-- Newspaper readers are highly educated -- 89% of those with a post-graduate degree read a newspaper in print or online while 84% of college graduates did so.

The full report can be found here.