Web News sites drawing record viewers

Web News sites drawing record viewers

www.reuters.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A record number of readers visited U.S. online newspaper sites last year, according to figures released on Thursday, confirming the Web as one of the few bright spots for the struggling newspaper industry.

The Newspaper Association of America reported the number of unique visitors to newspaper Web sites last year rose more than 6 percent to a monthly average of 60 million. Monthly visits climbed 9 percent in the fourth quarter from a year ago.

It said that during the fourth quarter, 39 percent of all active Web users visited newspaper Web sites, with visits averaging 44 minutes a month.

The figures come as the newspaper industry becomes increasingly reliant on advertising revenue from Web sites, with print advertising under pressure, particularly when it comes to classified ad sales.

Publishers are hoping that online growth will compensate for some of the decline from the print side.

The report, compiled for the NAA by Nielsen Online, took into account both home and work Internet use.

(visit the link for the full news article)

No suprise here. Less and less people are reading newspapers, and more and more are going on-line to get their news.

More often than not, the net news is DAYS ahead of the printed news, and the news coverage is much broader than the paper.

I think the newspaper will become all but extinct in the future.

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 24-1-2008 by DimensionalDetective]

My boss reads the Wall Street Journal everyday and tells me I should read it. When I picked it up, it had yesterdays news. Sorry, but online is the way to go to get news.

But if the printed news goes the way of the dodos, what will we line our birdcages with?

Are they really good for anything else anymore?

Originally posted by goosdawg
Are they really good for anything else anymore?

Of course they are! They make my evening fires much easier to start, make excellent "rags" for cleaning my windshield, and keep my table clean when the kids want to do arts & crafts! Unfortunately for those in the printing business, these are the reasons I bring news papers home. It's been years since I actually read one.

Kidding aside, the net also allows the reader the opportunity to verify stories with other sources. In theory at least, this aspect should keep journalists at least a little more honest in their reporting.

reply to post by Unit541


Good points, all!

And beside being able to verify sources, you don't get ink all over your hands!

Originally posted by goosdawg
But if the printed news goes the way of the dodos, what will we line our birdcages with?

old laptops