Newspaper sites experience rise in unique users

Ed: On the global web, why do we need 30 sources for the same global news about politics, sports, and business? When it comes to specialty news like B2B, local, and special interests, the web beats TV.

TV Remains Top Source of News Even As Online Grows

from Wired Top Stories 

Fewer Americans are reading newspapers and are instead getting their news online, but television remains the leading source of news in the country, according to the Pew Research Center's biannual survey on news consumption habits.

US: Newspaper sites experience rise in unique users

from editorsweblog

Four out of the five online news sources that experienced the largest increase in unique users since July 2007 year-on-year were newspaper Web sites, according to a Nielsen Online study which tracked 30 current and global news outlets. 

New York Daily News was the biggest increase in unique users, growing by 66% to 4.3 million, despite ranking No.29 on the list. Cox Newspapers' unique users rose by 57% to 5.8 million.Advance's papers grew by 42% to 8 million unique users whereas New York Times rose by 38% to 19.5 million. 

MSNBC had the highest number of uniques, having increades by 44% to 37.5 million.

Gannett papers had a 4% decline to 13.2 million uniques. USA Today fell by 2% to 10.4 million and The Washington Post decreased by 2% to 8.9 million. 

Editor and Publisher provide a list of the Top 30 Online Current Events & Global News Destinations for last month, compared to July 2007:

Media Oulet - July '08 Unique Audience (000) - July '07 Unique Audience (000) 

MSNBC Digital Network -- 37,516 -- 26,015
Yahoo! News -- 35,225 -- 32,674
CNN Digital Network -- 32,977 -- 29,757
AOL News -- 22,010 -- 23,103
NYTimes.com -- 19,513 -- 14,149

Tribune Newspapers -- 16,177 -- 12,218
ABCNEWS Digital Network -- 13,534 -- 9,876
Gannett Newspapers and Newspaper Division -- 13,254 -- 13,812
Fox News Digital Network -- 11,540 -- 9,343
Google News -- 10,776 -- 8,973

USATODAY.com -- 10,404 -- 10,611
McClatchy Newspaper Network -- 10,380 -- 8,338
CBS News Digital Network -- 9,197 -- 9,203
WorldNow -- 9,070 -- 7,604
washingtonpost.com -- 8,935 --- 9,157

Hearst Newspapers Digital -- 8,225 -- 7,596
Advance Internet -- 8,044 -- 5,648
MediaNews Group Newspapers -- 7,574 -- 6,843
Topix -- 6,229 -- 5,949
Cox Newspapers -- 5,842 -- 3,723

Slate -- 5,763 -- 4,875
IB Websites -- 5,633 -- 6,202
BBC News -- 5,253 -- 6,408
Gannett Broadcasting -- 5,010 -- 3,893
Fox Television Stations -- 4,940 -- 4,550

New York Post Holdings -- 4,937 -- 3,952
Boston.com -- 4,891 -- 4,029
MailOnline -- 4,645 -- 4,137
Daily News Online Edition -- 4,301 -- 2,586
NPR -- 4,282 -- 3,327

Maybe Newspapers Can Benefit From Local Online Media Growth: OPA

from paidContent.org by David Kaplan

Local newspapers may be struggling to latch on the to rise of local online media, but a report from the Online Publishers Association suggests that they at least have a good deal of reader trust to build on. The report, Local Online Media: From Advertising to Action (PDF), examined the attitudes of 2,069 respondents who took part in JupiterResearch NPD panel.

-- Trust: As other studies have shown, local online media growth rates are projected to outpace general internet ad spend. And looking across other local online sites, including city guides, classifieds (e.g., Cars.com, Craigslist), portals, yellow pages, and TV stations, newspapers ranked highest with "trust in advertising." About 56 percent of the respondents found local online newspaper ads most credible, with TV stations (55 percent), portals (53 percent) and yellow pages (53 percent) also getting approval from over half of those surveyed.

-- Action: Local newspaper sites also beat TV stations (44 percent), magazines (42 percent) and city guides (42 percent) as 46 percent identified online papers as most likely to "generate action," such as buying a product or doing more research. But despite the trust and the motivation towards acting on an ad, it was local magazine sites that attracted consumers with money. Local mag sites drew 48 percent of those who spent $500 over the past year, while 40 percent of local newspaper readers spent that much during the same period. Release

Related

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• Even As Local Online Ad Spend Surges, Newspapers Can't Win