According to a new comScore release, more than 123 million Americans visited newspaper sites in May, representing 57% of the total U.S. Internet audience, as the New York Times Brand led the category with more than 32 million visitors and 719 million pages viewed during the month. The average visitor viewed 22 pages of content on the New York Times. Tribune Newspapers ranked second in terms of audience with 24.8 million visitors, followed by Advance Internet and USA Today Sites. Top Newspaper Groups (May 2010 Total U.S. Home & Work Locations) Total Unique Visitors (000)Total Pages Viewed (MM)Average Pages per VisitorTotal Internet Audience 215,691592,5192,747Newspapers123,8975,33943 The New York Times Brand 32,530 719 22 Tribune Newspapers 24,753 359 14 Advance Internet 18,053 326 18 USA Today Sites 16,771 154 9 WashingtonPost.com 16,677 178 11 McClatchy Corporation 13,987 216 15 MediaNews Group 13,362 141 11 NYDailyNews.com 12,502 122 10 Hearst Newspapers 12,017 195 16 Wall Street Journal Online 11,325 115 10 Source: comScore Media Metrix , June 2010 Jeff Hackett, comScore senior vice president, said "... even as print circulation declines, Americans are actually consuming as much news as ever... it's just being consumed across more media," said. "The Internet has become an essential channel in the way the majority of Americans consume news content today... 3 out of 5 Internet users read newspapers online each month... as advertising rates for digital move closer... (to) traditional media, the economics of the news business... look(s) a lot more promising." The study shows that among the top site categories where display ads appeared in April 2010, online newspapers accounted for 2.4% of impressions but a higher 6.7% of display advertising dollars. The average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) on online newspaper sites was $7, higher than each of the other top site categories and nearly three times the average CPM for the total U.S. Internet at $2.52. Top Display Advertising Site Categories (April 2010 Total U.S. Home & Work Locations) PublisherTotal Display Ad Impressions (MM)Share of ImpressionsEstimated Spending ($ 000)Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPM)Total Internet Audience 354,636100.0%893,681$2.52 Social Networking 98,176 27.7% 54,684 $0.56 Portals 69,664 19.6% 181,266 $2.60 Entertainment 38,104 10.7% 181,147 $4.75 e-mail 34,327 9.7% 32,370 $0.94 Community 15,884 4.5% 33,435 $2.10 General News 12,542 3.5% 77,055 $6.14 Sports 10,850 3.1% 68,214 $6.29 Newspapers 8,506 2.4% 59,441 $6.99 Online Gaming 7,929 2.2% 21,234 $2.68 Photos 7,391 2.1% 7,953 $1.08 Source: comScore Ad Metrix, June 2010 The report says that comScore research conducted last year for the Online Publishers Association showed that visitors who are exposed to display ads on news sites are more likely than average to visit the advertiser website, are heavier online buyers and tend to have higher household income. "Online newspapers represent premium inventory for advertisers... " added Hackett. " In particular, online newspapers have demonstrated significantly faster adoption of the new OPA ad units, concludes the report. While these units currently account for just 0.06 percent of all display ads delivered online in the U.S., they account for 0.43 percent of ads on newspaper sites, or seven times higher than average. Notably, the Fixed Panel 336 x 860 unit is the most popular unit being used on newspaper sites among the new OPA units at a rate 35 times higher than average. For additional information from comScore, please visit here.