Newspaper website traffic up 20 percent in past year

ARLINGTON, Va. – Newspaper publishers attracted 20 percent more total visits by adults 18-plus to their websites in September, compared to the same month one year ago. The analysis, performed by comScore for the Newspaper Association of America, also indicates strong performance in other key engagement categories.
 
In a year-over-year comparison for newspaper websites, average daily visits were up 21 percent; total pages viewed were up 10 percent; total minutes spent were up 11 percent; and unique visitors were up 9 percent. This is the first time NAA has been able to provide an annual comparison since it began using comScore to track Web audience data in September 2010.
 
“This strong audience growth coincided with the introduction of paywalls at many newspaper companies,” said Caroline Little, NAA president and CEO. “Clearly, consumers place high value upon the content that newspapers create – and they are seeking out newspaper websites to get it. Not only do online platforms deliver reach and engagement, they attract the demographics that advertisers want, which bodes well for the continued growth of this revenue stream.”
 
The findings also indicate that in the third quarter newspaper websites attracted an average monthly audience of 110.4 million unique visitors ages 18-plus – nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of all adult Internet users.
 
As publishers continue to invest in their websites, they are also reaching key audiences, including:
 
·         3-in-4 adults (74 percent) in households earning more than $100,000;
·         58 percent of 18- to-34- year-olds; and
·         62 percent of Internet users with children at home.
 
Second-quarter figures released by NAA in September showed that online advertising was up 8 percent from the same period a year ago and accounted for 14 percent of all newspaper advertising dollars through the first half of the year, up from 12 percent for the same period in 2010.
NAA is a nonprofit organization representing nearly 2,000 newspapers and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and Canada. NAA members include daily newspapers as well as nondailies, other print publications and online products. Headquartered near Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Va., the association focuses on the major issues that affect today’s newspaper industry: public policy/legal matters, advertising revenue growth and audience development across the medium’s broad portfolio of products and digital platforms. Information about NAA and the industry may be found at www.naa.org.