Newspaper websites attract record numbers

Visits to online newspaper websites hit a record high in the first quarter of 2007, according to recent research from Nielsen//NetRatings for the Newspaper Association of America.

by Helen Leggatt

NAA%20logo.gif Neilsen//NetRatings' analysis found that visits to newspaper websites jumped to 59 million during the first quarter of this year, a record high and an increase of 5.3 percent over 2006. Page views were also up in the first quarter, with almost 3 billion per month compared to 2.7 billion in the same period last year.

“These record-setting numbers underscore newspapers’ success in capturing online audiences and the importance of newspaper Web sites to the growing newspaper footprint,” said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.

Newspaper websites have helped drive a 13.7 percent increase in total newspaper audience for 25- to 34-year-olds and a 9.2 percent increase for 18- to 24-year-olds, says the NAA release, attracting increasing attention from marketers looking for a younger and more affluent audience.

A quarter of the traffic to newspaper websites is through search engines, reports MediaPost. "Whether it's making the titles of their articles more search engine-friendly, or purchasing news-related keywords, newspaper Web sites are getting smarter at driving traffic through search," said LeeAnn Prescott, director of research at Hitwise.