• by Erik Sass , February 21, 2008

Newspaper Web sites are reaching elusive younger readers, a new analysis by Scarborough Research indicates--giving a much-needed boost to the ailing newspaper business. The growth in online audiences is offsetting losses in print readership, at least somewhat.

The Scarborough survey tracked 88 newspapers in the top 50 local markets from August 2004 to March 2007. It found that local newspaper audience weekly "coverage" or penetration grew 14%, from 6.4% of the total adult population in the year ending September 2005 to 7.3% in the year ending March 2007.

Scarborough also studied the group of "Web exclusive" young adults ages 18-34, who visit the Web site but don't read the print edition. This cohort increased 21% over the course of the study, with average weekly penetration of Web sites among non-newspaper readers ages 18-34 increasing from 2.6% to 2.9%.

The growth of online audience is mitigating the decline in print readership somewhat, according to Scarborough, which says online audience growth offset losses in print by 28%. However, 70% of visitors to the Web site also read the print publication, suggesting opportunities for cross-platform ad messages.