• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, February 3, 2006

Online newspapers drew an average 53.6 million visitors a month during the fourth quarter--up 30 percent from the previous year's 41.1 million, according to a new report released Thursday by the Newspaper Association of America.

Visitors to newspapers' Web sites also remain longer now than in the past. In the fourth quarter, users visited an average of 42 minutes a month--up 16 percent from 37 minutes in the fourth quarter of 2004. Nielsen//NetRatings compiled the data for the NAA.

Rob Runett, director of electronic media communications at the NAA, proposed that readership rose because people were particularly interested in last year's news--which included natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing war in Iraq. In addition, he said, Web users are more comfortable consuming news online than they were even one year ago.

November was the industry's best month to date, with more than 55 million people visiting newspaper Web sites, marking a 30 percent increase from the 42.5 million who visited in November of 2004.

That month, 36 percent of all Web users went to an online newspaper site.

October saw 53.1 million visitors to newspapers' Web sites; in December, such sites attracted 52.4 million visitors.

As online readership increased, ad expenditures also trended up last year. By the third quarter, online newspapers ads reached almost $519 million, marking a 27 percent increase from the third quarter of 2004. Overall ad expenditures totaled $11.96 billion, representing just a 2.4 percent increase from 2004.