U.S. newspapers' online audiences grew about six per cent last year, an industry group reported Thursday, a rare bit of good news for an industry struggling to adapt as readers and advertising dollars continue to migrate online.
Websites run by newspapers had an average of 60 million unique U.S. visitors per month in 2007, up from 56.4 million the year before, according to data released by Newspaper Association of America and compiled by Nielsen Online, a web audience measurement agency owned by The Nielsen Co.
Due to the growth in the total online audience, however, the online reach of newspapers grew somewhat less, with 38 per cent of all active online users visiting newspaper websites last year, up from 36 per cent in 2006.
So that's the good news. Here's the bad news:
Total newspaper advertising revenue fell 7.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2007, the latest period for which the NAA has reported figures. Within that total, print ad revenues declined nine per cent to $10.1 billion, while online revenues rose 21 per cent to $773 million, according to the NAA.
Nielsen and comScore Inc. compile data on online audiences using panels. However many newspapers and other publishers of websites take issue with some of those measurements, saying their own internal data show higher numbers of visitors to their websites.
Web publishers and online executives are working to address those discrepancies, which some say are holding back further growth in online advertising revenues.