Twenty-five of the 90 alternative weeklies surveyed by The Media Audit have collectively added more than two million readers via their websites, says a recent MediaAudit release.
Bob Jordan, president of International Demographics, said "These are not gross website visitor numbers, they represent the net gain from the websites." According to Jordan the alternative weeklies didn't immediately embrace websites "but most eventually became aggressive and achieved some very impressive gains."
Thirty-one of the 90 alternatives surveyed added more than 30,000 new readers through their websites. Jordan notes, "It's not just the big weeklies that have made the gains (via the Web)..."
The report shows that the weekly New York Village Voice attracts 556,500 readers each month but after elimination of those who also read the print edition the publication's net gain is 242,896.
The 4-edition cume for Columbus Alive (Ohio) is 133,100 readers. Through their website they achieved a net gain of 55,627. "That's a significant gain in reach for any publication," says Jordan.
Only 26 of the 90 alternative weeklies covered in the survey failed to gain at least 10,000 new readers via their websites. And only 33 of the weeklies have fewer than 200,000 readers after adding the net gain from their websites, concludes the report.
Weeklies That Achieved Net Readership Gains, Via Their Websites, Of At Least 30,000 | |
Net Additions | |
New York Village Voice | 242,896 |
LA Weekly | 222,796 |
OC Weekly | 151,286 |
New York Long Island Press | 131,559 |
SF Weekly | 118,922 |
New York Press | 111,915 |
Chicago Reader | 102,130 |
San Francisco East Bay Express | 98,451 |
San Francisco Bay Guardian | 96,079 |
Dallas Observer | 77,300 |
Houston Press | 73,708 |
Seattle Weekly | 62,843 |
Columbus Alive | 55,627 |
Detroit Metro Times | 52,211 |
Philadelphia Weekly | 51,915 |
Miami City Link | 51,042 |
Chicago New City | 49,062 |
Washington City Paper | 48,776 |
Columbus The Other Paper | 47,697 |
Minneapolis City Pages | 46,259 |
Miami New Times | 45,090 |
San Antonio Current | 44,188 |
Salt Lake City Weekly | 43,142 |
Orlando Weekly | 43,055 |
Austin Chronicle | 41,795 |
Atlanta Creative Loafing | 36,186 |
Baltimore City Paper | 35,795 |
Greensboro Go Triad | 32,783 |
Philadelphia City Paper | 32,632 |
San Diego Reader | 31,200 |
San Diego City Beat | 30,397 |
Source: The Media Audit |
More information from The Media Audit may he accessed here.