Commentary

Print Affiliated Web Sites Catch the Ebb and Flow of Readers

Print Affiliated Web Sites Catch the Ebb and Flow of Readers

According to a recent Hitwise survey, 26.2 percent of all visits to Web sites in the "News & Media - Print" category, originated from another news site (both print and non-print affiliated) in the four weeks ending May 21, 2005. As print-news organizations embrace the Internet, customer acquisition and churn is heavily intertwined with other news and content sites, search engines and e-mail. For instance:

  • 18.8 percent of visits to print-affiliated news sites came directly from search engines and directories
  • 9.0 percent from entertainment sites
  • 7.2 percent from Web e-mail services.

Bill Tancer, vice president of research, Hitwise, says "Brand equity, quality content and a rich experience are as important as ever. But as print-news organizations embrace digital, they must grasp the highly competitive and spontaneous nature of Internet news consumption "

The report finds that, while print-news sites receive significant traffic from other news sites, they also lose more visitors (25.8 percent) to them versus any other site category. Other categories that visitors of print-news sites leave to visit include:

  • Entertainment (10.6 percent)
  • Business and Finance (9.8 percent)
  • Lifestyle (7.4 percent).

While the audience reach of print-news, particularly newspapers, historically is limited to a title's core geographic location, the Internet is breaking down that barrier, says the report.

  • The New York Times received 72.2 percent of its  U.S. traffic from visitors outside of New York,  New Jersey and  Connecticut during the study period.
  • The Washington Post's received 68.6 percent of its U.S. traffic from visitors outside of Virginia,  Maryland and  Washington, D.C.
  • The San Francisco Chronicle's and the Los Angeles Times received 50.4 percent and 43.84 percent, respectively, of their traffic from outside of California.

"Arguably, small and regional newspapers can be most competitive by focusing on their local markets," said Tancer. "However... online distribution channels still can have significant appeal to customers outside of their core local markets. Local and regional newspapers should... consider such factors as national interest in major local stories, their utility as reference content, as well as ties to travelers and former residents."

You can find out more information here.

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