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Jeff Sigmund
Communications Manager
(571) 366-1088
Jeff.Sigmund@naa.org

January 24, 2008

ONLINE NEWSPAPER VIEWERSHIP REACHES RECORD IN 2007

Unique Audience for Newspaper Web Sites Grows Six Percent in 2007; Nine Percent Increase in Fourth Quarter Adds to Banner Year



Arlington, Va. – Average monthly unique audience figures for newspaper Web sites grew by more than 3.6 million in 2007, a record year for the industry and an increase of more than six percent over 2006 numbers. Monthly unique visitors to newspaper Web sites averaged 62.8 million in last year’s fourth quarter, a record number in itself and the largest in any quarter since NAA began tracking online usage in January 2004. According to the data, which is part of a new report by Nielsen Online for NAA that takes into account home and work Internet usage, unique visitors in the fourth quarter represented a nine percent increase over the same period a year ago (57.6 million).

Heading into the holiday season, newspaper Web sites experienced a record in October 2007. More than 63.2 million people visited newspaper Web sites that month, more than any month on record. This figure represents an eight percent increase from the same period a year ago.

“Newspapers continue to successfully transform themselves into multimedia companies, offering unparalleled content that reaches an audience growing in both size and sophistication,” said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm. “Newspapers’ expanding print and digital portfolio offers value to advertisers by providing a targeted, comprehensive menu of choices for today’s discriminating consumer. As our industry’s transition accelerates, it is clear consumers recognize newspapers as their trusted source of information in an increasingly digital environment.”

For the year’s fourth quarter, 39 percent of all active Web users visited newspaper Web sites, with visits averaging 44 minutes a month. Users generated more than three billion page impressions on average, a 7.3 percent increase over the same period a year ago. See data for previous quarters.

Month

Unique Audience

Active Reach Percentage

Pages Per Person

Page Views

Time Per Person (mm:ss)

Visits Per Person

Oct-07

63,209,003

39.77

51.27

3,240,780,669

46:44

8.59

Nov-07

62,279,018

38.88

47.20

2,939,499,668

42:20

7.94

Dec-07

63,052,143

38.20

45.82

2,888,760,593

41:57

7.83

Q4 Average

62,846,722

38.95

48.10

3,023,013,653

43:40

8.12

Year

Unique Audience *

Active Reach Percentage

Pages Per Person

Page Views

Time Per Person (mm:ss)

Visits Per Person

2007

60,035,743

37.75

47.79

2,869,190,785

42:59

8.11

2006

56,404,313

36.19

47.38

2,674,022,250

41:14

8.00

* Based on four-quarter average

Source: Nielsen Online Custom Analysis

The Nielsen Online newspaper total represents a de-duplicated visitor total taken from its combined home and work panel of Internet users (i.e. an individual who might read a national newspaper plus their local newspaper online is only counted once). The target sample (2 years or older) has access from a non-shared PC at work and/or access from home. The Nielsen Online monthly newspaper total represents the de-duplicated reach of a custom list of hundreds of sites collectively.

NAA is a nonprofit organization representing the $59 billion newspaper industry and more than 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. NAA members include daily newspapers, as well as non-dailies and other publications published throughout the world. Headquartered just outside Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Va., the Association focuses on six key strategic priorities that affect the newspaper industry collectively: marketing, public policy, diversity, industry development, newspaper operations and readership. Information about NAA and the industry also may be found at www.naa.org.