Commentary
Hometown News Holds Online Newspaper Readers
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 17, 2005
A new report from Nielsen//NetRatings and eMarketer indicates that that readers in almost every city in the top 10 local markets have been loyal to their top hometown paper. Local newspapers claimed an average of 19% of the local Internet readership, and held the top spot among the city's online readers for online newspaper sites. The exception was Philadelphia, in which online readers favored USA Today over the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Washington Post managed to reach about 30% of its local market, followed closely by the Boston Globe (28.3%) and the Atlanta Journal Constitution (26.4%).
Local Market Reach (%) of Top Newspaper Web Sites in Top 10 US Metro Areas, July 2005 | |
Newspaper | Local Market Reach |
Washington Post | 30.1% |
Boston Globe | 28.3 |
Atlanta Journal-Constitution | 26.4 |
NY Times | 21.9 |
Chicago Tribune | 21.9 |
Seattle Times | 16.7 |
Dallas News | 15.9 |
LA Times | 15.4 |
SF Chronicle | 13.9 |
USA Today | 9.6 |
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, Sept. 2005 | |
On a national level, the New York Times, USA Today and the Washington Post captured the greatest number of Internet users.
National Market Reach (%) of Top Newspaper Web Sites in Top 10 US Metro Markets, July 2005 | |
Newspaper | National Market Reach |
Washington Post | 5.7% |
Boston Globe | 2.4 |
Atlanta Journal-Constitution | 1.4 |
NY Times | 9.3 |
Chicago Tribune | 1.9 |
Seattle Times | 1.5 |
Dallas News | 0.8 |
LA Times | 3.1 |
SF Chronicle | 2.5 |
USA Today | 7.1 |
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, Sept. 2005 | |
And, according to eMarketer, US newspapers will reach online revenues of $2.26 billion in 2008.
Online Revenues of US Newspapers | |
| Revenue ($xBillion) |
2004 | $1.03 |
2005 | 1.40 |
2006 | 1.71 |
2007 | 1.91 |
2008 | 2.26 |
Source: eMarketer, Aug 2005 | |
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.