The newspaper continues to hang on to a bigger share of the news resource pie than online news resources. Recent data surveys show a strong newspaper readership which may be a surprising fact to many analysts calling the printed page a dead venture.
Newspaper Readership
The Editor & Publisher magazine released their latest findings for news preferences, web stats for top newspapers, and daily and Sunday circulation in the October 2009 issue.
While national and international news over the past decade show a trend towards the Internet as the premier source, local news sources show that printed newspapers are still preferred by all age groups.
The following statistics show good news for local newspapers:
- The 18-29 year old age group prefers to get their local news via television 67%, the Internet 27%, local newspapers 39%, and radio 22%.
- Ages 30 to 49, television 60%, Internet 24%, newspapers 33%, and radio 21%.
- Ages 50 to 64, television 63%, Internet 12%, newspapers 45%, and radio 14%.
- Those 65 years and older show 69% for television, 4% Internet, 53% newspapers, and 13% radio.
Circulation for Newspapers
While television came in first place in all age groups, newspapers came in with a strong second place for all ages. It is interesting to see that the Internet found its strongest audience in the 30 to 49 year old group.
Although the numbers show a strong preference for local newspapers as a reliable and go to resource, total for dailies and Sunday circulation numbers have been on a steady decline since the early 1990s- which helps build the case for the Internet deluding the need for printed newspapers. Nonetheless, the percentages of readers for printed local newspapers surpassed the Internet numbers.
Online Newspapers
The magazine also provided web stats for the top national newspapers read by online readers. NYTimes.com came out on top. The Washington Post came in second and the Wall Street Journal Online found itself in third place.
Print Versus Digital News
The debate still continues over where news rooms need to take their content. Online content has been offered free in most cases to readers for years. Will online readers be willing to pay for content in the future?
Business models for news print have been changed in efforts to integrate online with printed. Are the current models working or do they have to be modified even broader?
News Resources
The best answers lie with the readers. At present, local newspapers still have a strong lead over digital news. Next year or five years from now may well prove a different theory. From one reader’s perspective, the newspaper still has place and purpose right next to a good cup of morning coffee.
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