• by Michael Shields , November 12, 2004

Digital print media distributor NewsStand Inc. is seeing its user base evolve from early adopters to more mainstream readers, according to the results of an updated study conducted by Nielsen//NetRatings.

NewsStand is one of a handful of companies that offer digital versions of magazine and newspaper print editions, which are downloaded by readers to be viewed on their personal computers. Readers flip through "pages" of these titles in a similar fashion to reading their print counterparts.

According to the second annual NewsStand Customer Profile Study, which polled 762 respondents on their usage habits, the technology is gaining acceptance beyond the technologically advanced toward a broader range of persons.

Still, the user base for NewsStand is predominantly male (82 percent) and young (45 percent 18-34). But since the study was first conducted last year, the percentage of women who use the product has climbed by nearly 6 percentage points, and the percentage of readers 25-34 and 35-44 have each slipped by several points. Metrics for high income and high education, while still dominant, each exhibited similar trends.

"We are starting to go more mainstream," said Michelle Chaboudy, NewsStand's chief marketing officer. "People are now more familiar with what an electronic edition is."

It appears as though NewsStand's audience, while it may be composed of fewer technophiles, is particularly news-hungry. Interestingly, 85 percent of respondents reported that they were registered users of newspaper sites, perhaps indicating that they jump between using NewsStand's technology and reading newspapers on the Web. On the flip side, only 13 percent of users subscribe to more than one publication through NewsStand.

A significant number of users (40 percent) say that their use of print versions of titles has in fact diminished as a result of using NewsStand, yet 49 percent say their reading habits have essentially stayed the same.

The study provided some solid ammunition for NewsStand to sell to e-commerce advertisers who wish to leverage both a magazine environment and the immediacy of the Internet: 75 percent of respondents say they have purchased products after seeing them when reading a NewsStand publication.