Following on the results of a recent Harris Interactive survey, which showed that the number of Americans with online access who used the Internet as their primary source of news and information more
than doubled in the two weeks since the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Online Publishers Association (OPA) today released traffic data from a wide variety of its member sites. Taken as a whole,
these usage patterns show that trusted news and information sites are becoming increasingly indispensable tools for business professionals and the public at large. As compared to the week ending
September 9, page views for the week ending September 30 were up 70.0% at ABCNEWS.com, 78.0% at MSNBC.com, 69.2% at NYTimes.com, 31.2% at USATODAY.com and 47.8% at Washingtonpost.com. In addition,
average daily unique visitors were up 65.1% at ABCNEWS.com, 63.3% at MSNBC.com, 69.2% at NYTimes.com and 39.7% at USATODAY.com for the same period. Average daily unique visitors at Slate.com increased
76.6% for that period, as well. Many local sites also showed significant gains. For example, Knight Ridder Digital's Miami.com was up 67% in average daily unique visitors, according to Media Metrix,
and DetroitFreePress.com was up 98%.
