NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of people visiting U.S. newspaper Web sites rose 3.7 percent during the third quarter, according to an industry group, even as their print editions reported lower advertising sales.
More than 59 million people, or 37.1 percent of all active Internet users, visited the papers' Web sites during the quarter, up from 56.9 million a year ago, the Newspaper Association said, citing data supplied by Nielsen/NetRatings.
The results, which the association plans to release on Wednesday, also show that Internet users spent an average about 43 minutes per month on newspaper Web sites, up 4 percent over the same period a year ago.
This is an important measure for advertisers who want to see that people are spending time on Web pages that contain their ads, rather than making a quick visit and departing.
In addition, newspaper Web site visitors generated 2.8 billion page views per month during the quarter, up from 2.5 billion in the quarter a year ago.
The results come after several publishers, including Tribune Co, Gannett Co Inc and McClatchy Co reported higher online advertising revenue as some of their print papers suffered.
Separately, the association plans to release a new report on Wednesday to convince advertisers that their papers attract the readers they want to reach.
According to the report, which was compiled with data from Scarborough Research, newspapers and newspaper Web sites reach 77 percent of adults in a given week. They also reach 65 percent of adults aged 18 to 24 and 69 percent of adults aged 25 to 34.
Total newspaper readership rises with household income, the report said, showing that newspapers reach 56 percent of people with income of less than $10,000 a year, but 85 percent of people with income over $100,000 a year.
More educated people also are more likely to be newspaper readers, according to the report. It said newspapers reach 61 percent of people with some high school education, but 89 percent of people with postgraduate education.
Scarborough is a joint venture between Arbitron Inc and The Nielsen Co.
