By: Jennifer Saba The time spent reading newspapers online has increased greatly while the pace of online readership has accelerated, according to new findings from the Center for the Digital Future at USC's Annenberg School for Communications.
The study reported that Internet users read online newspapers for 53 minutes per week in 2008, up from 41 minutes per week in 2007.
"The most significant trend about how Americans are changing their news reading habits may be found in comparing the use of online media by light users versus heavy users," Jeffrey I. Cole, the director of the Center for the Digital Future, said in a statement. "Heavy Internet users spent 65 more minutes per week reading online newspapers than do light readers."
As users get more comfortable reading newspapers on the Web, they are also dropping their print subscriptions. Twenty-two percent of Internet users said they no longer pay for print newspapers or magazines because they could access that content online for free.
The change in readership habits has happened more swiftly than expected. Cole said that "we're clearly seeing a path to the end of the printed daily newspapers," and that it's occurring at a "pace they never could have anticipated. Their cushion is gone, and only those papers that can move decisively to the Web will survive."
Four reasons are cited for the rapid shift to online from print: classified advertising moving online, concerns about the environment, the economic downturn, and the lack of new readers interested in print.
At the same time, the study found that print maintains strong branding opportunities. A large percentage of Internet users remain loyal to print -- 61% said they would miss the print edition of their newspaper if it were no longer available, up from 56% in 2007.
This is the Center's eighth annual survey, which studies the impact of online technology in the United States.
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