• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, March 20, 2008

Younger Online News Consumers are Not Newspaper Readers

A new comScore, study of the differences in online behavior among heavy, medium, light and non-newspaper readers showed that non-newspaper readers are likely to be younger, but are actually heavier than average online news consumers. Meanwhile, heavy newspaper readers are more likely than average to engage with traditional print news brands online.

 Those age 65 and older are nearly 3 times more likely than average to read the print edition of newspapers 6 times per week, while those age 18-24 are 38 percent more likely than average to not read a print newspaper at all during a typical week.

Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore, said  "... the Internet represents a significant opportunity to extend... and improve upon... existing news brands... because print circulations are declining does not mean there are fewer news consumers.  In fact, just the opposite is true."

Several key takeaways emerged from this study, says the report:

• Based on their heavier than average visitation across most key news sites, those who do not read print versions of newspapers are not necessarily light news consumers. In fact, they show a high propensity to visit the majority of sites studied, including print (e.g. LA Times), TV (e.g. FoxNews.com), and Internet (e.g. Topix.com) brands.
• Both the heavy print newspaper readers and the non-readers show heavy consumption of print news brands online, which suggests that print news sites are not merely an extension of their offline brands but have a stand-alone brand presence in the online world.  The Web sites for three of New York Times, LA Times and Chicago Tribune show above average visitation from both heavy newspaper readers and non-readers.
• TV news brands are also heavily visited by non-print newspaper readers, underscoring the importance of sight, sound and motion to the digital news experience. Non-readers were 29 percent more likely than the average Internet user to visit FoxNews.com and 15 percent more likely to visit CBS News Digital.

 "Non-newspaper readers are a particularly important segment to reach because they are heavier than average news consumers - they just prefer to consume it in a digital format," continued Flanagan. "That they are receptive to print, TV, and Internet news brands indicates a broad opportunity online, but the brands that will ultimately win over these key news consumers are the ones that successfully integrate cutting edge digital content with high quality journalism."

 Segments are defined based on the number of days respondents said they read a print version of a newspaper in an average week, excluding the Sunday edition.

• Heavy Newspaper Readers: 6 times per week
• Medium Newspaper Readers: 3-5 times per week
• Light Newspaper Readers: 1-2 times per week
• Non Newspaper Readers: 0 times per week

 For more information from comScore, please visit here