Nearly three-quarters of newspaper website users in the United States also read the daily's printed edition. In fact, a recent study has revealed, the percentage of such individuals has varied very little in the last five years.
However, the percentage of visitors who now read print editions less often has been increasing – from 10 per cent in 2001 to 18 per cent in 2005. Likewise, the percentage of newspaper website users who refer to the print edition of the paper has been decreasing – from 27 per cent in 2001 to 13 per cent in 2005, a study 'Newspapers on the Information Highway' by Belden Associates has revealed. Since 2001, Belden has interviewed more than 134,000 users (including 38,300 during 2005) of 39 US newspaper websites of various sizes.
The most significant negative impact of newspaper website use has been on "reading less" – with a net 5-6 per cent loss in 2004-2005. According to the Belden survey, verbatim comments indicated that at least some site visitors used the respective sites to "plan" their print reading.
In 2005, 6 per cent of the users cancelled their subscription to the print edition after they began using the website. The corresponding figure in 2001 had been 4 per cent. Likewise, the percentage of users who started subscribing to the print edition after using the website in 2005 was 5 per cent. The corresponding figure in 2001 had been 7 per cent. The overall impact of site use on subscription status has remained stable (and low) at a net loss of 0-2 per cent since 2002.
Usage of newspaper websites has also had an impact on multiple-copy purchase frequencies, the Belden study has found. The percentage of people who purchased fewer singles increased from 7 per cent in 2001 to 12 per cent in 2005. On the other hand, the percentage of people who purchased more singles decreased marginally from 16 per cent in 2001 to 14 per cent in 2005.
Among current subscribers of these newspapers, 70 per cent said that they were not at all likely to cancel their print edition subscriptions. Among those local visitors currently not subscribing to the print version, 59 per cent thought they were not at all likely to start subscribing.
The top driver of newspaper website users remains the local news of the day with as much as 74 per cent keeping track of the news in their neighbourhood, and 67 per cent following the breaking news stories. Weather forecasts, local crime and safety information, statewide news of the day, classified ads, obituaries, neighbourhood events, national news of the day, and community calendar made up the top ten. Local sports (36 per cent) and international news of the day (29 per cent) came way behind.
The Belden study found that both Internet and site usage were high among the visitors to the newspaper websites that were surveyed. The mean number of days in a week in which users connected to the Internet remained more or less the same – 6.3 in 2001 to 2004 and 6.4 in 2005. The number of sites surveyed were 20 (2001), 13 (2002), 21 (2003), 28 (2004) and 39 (2005). Newspaper site usage figures during the corresponding were 3.5, 3.5, 4.2, 3.7, and 4.1 respectively. In other words, site usage is not growing.
Site visitors by and large are loyal and long-term. According to the 2005 data, 36 per cent of the newspaper website users had been visiting the sites for more than three years. And the percentage of those who started 1-3 years ago was 35 per cent. Belden analysis suggests that over 90 per cent of all pageviews are generated by the "core audience." Driving repeat intra-day visits is the key to continuing pageview growth.
