According to Nielsen//NetRatings @ Plan Fall 2005, newspaper Web sites grew 11 percent year-over-year to 39.3 million unique visitors in October 2005, comprising 26 percent of the active U.S. Internet population, or one out of every four Internet users. The increase exceeds the growth of the active Internet universe as a whole, which rose three percent year-over-year.
This research follows on the heels of last week's news of the recent six-month decline in average weekday print circulation among America's top 20 largest newspapers, as reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
According to the release, among newspaper readers 22 percent have shifted their readership preferences from offline to online sources, 71 percent still prefer print newspapers, while seven percent divide their time evenly between the two sources.
NYTimes.com was the top U.S. online newspaper site, with 11.4 million unique visitors in October 2005. USATODAY.com and WashingtonPost.com took the No. 2 and 3 spots.
Top Online U.S. Newspaper Sites, October 2005 | |||
Newspaper Site | Unique Audience (000) | Active Reach (%) | Y-O-Y Change |
1. NYTimes.com | 11,405 | 7.5 | 15% |
2. USATODAY.com | 10,361 | 6.81 | 8% |
3. WashingtonPost.com | 8,067 | 5.31 | 28% |
4. LA Times | 3,934 | 2.59 | 23% |
5. SFGate.com | 3,922 | 2.58 | 4% |
6. Boston.com | 3,602 | 2.37 | -1% |
7. Daily News Online Edition | 2,870 | 1.89 | 5% |
8. Wall Street Journal Online | 2,665 | 1.75 | 9% |
9. The Houston Chronicle | 2,654 | 1.75 | 35% |
10. Chicago Sun-Times | 2,584 | 1.7 | 20% |
Online Newspaper Category** | 39,283 | 25.83 | 11% |
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, November 2005 ** Category includes both U.S. and internationally based online newspapers. |