Newspapers continued to play a vital role in 2001, informing readers and providing in-depth information to better understand the events of an extraordinary year. Newspaper readership gained momentum and studies point to increased awareness and usage of newspaper Web sites.

• Over half of all adults (55.5 percent) in the top 50 U.S. markets read a daily newspaper, and nearly two-thirds (63.9 percent) read one on Sunday, according to the Spring 2002 Competitive Media Index.
• More than eight in 10 adults (81.1 percent) in the top 50 markets read a newspaper during the course of a week.
• Newspaper advertising expenditures for 2001 totaled $44.3 billlion.
• Retail ad spending was $20.7 billion. Classified expenditures totaled $16.6 billion and national was $7 billion.
• Newspapers' share of $44.3 billion of advertising spending gave the industry an estimated 19.2 percent of all ad expenditures in 2001.
• Nationally, more than 55 million newspapers are sold daily, with an average of 2.2 readers per copy. And on Sunday over 59 million newspapers are sold with an average of 2.3 readers per copy.
• More than 2,200 daily and weekly newspapers in the U.S. have sites on the World Wide Web. NAA operates a site that links to most of them at www.newspaperlinks.com.
• According to an NAA study, newspaper Web sites are the top choice for local news and information, beating out other local media sites and national brands. Sixty-two percent of respondents turn to their local newspaper's site for local news and information.
• Sixty-one percent of online newspaper users turn to the Internet every day for national and world news, compared with just 21 percent of general Internet users.
• Readers of newspaper Web sites tend to have more Web experience and spend more money online than general Web users. Sixty-two percent have been online for more than four years, compared with 41 percent of all Internet users. Nearly eight in 10 online newspaper users (79 percent) reported purchasing merchandise online in the past six months, compared with about half (49 percent) of general users.
• According to a 2001 NAA study, nearly two-thirds of consumers (63 percent) say newspapers are their primary source for advertising or general shopping information.
• Seven in 10 adults make a point of looking at newspaper inserts when they are in the market for a specific item, and over three-quarters (76 percent) usually check the Sunday inserts just to see what's on sale.
• Consumers prefer to receive preprint advertising via newspapers vs. direct mail by a 63 percent to 25 percent margin.