Newspaper vs. Internet

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Thursday, 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.

Demographic Profile of Print Newspaper Reader Segments (Summer 2007 Total U.S. Persons 18+, Home/Work Locations)
	Composition Index
Age	Heavy	Medium	Light	Non-Readers
18+ (Total Audience)	100	100	100	100
18-24	31	80	139	138
25-34	51	87	106	127
35-44	73	110	107	109
45-54	116	123	90	76
55-64	186	100	80	71
65+	296	60	49	37
Source: comScore Plan Metrix, March 2008 Composition Index = Percent of Newspaper Reader Segments/Percent of Internet Users x 100; Index of 100 represents parity.

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.

General News Site Visitation among Print Newspaper Reader Segments (Summer 2007 Total U.S. Persons 18+, Home/Work Location)
	Composition Index
Print News Brands	Heavy	Medium	Light	Non-Readers
NY times.Com	103	85	91	104
WSJ.Com	147	41	119	106
Washingtonpost.Com	109	58	101	95
LA Times	109	98	95	112
Chicago Tribune	106	94	93	108
TV News Brands
MSNBC	99	95	112	106
CNN	82	93	90	109
Foxnews.Com	104	90	82	129
CBS News Digital	113	106	110	115
ABC News Digital	94	88	84	102
Internet News Brands
Google News Search	82	99	95	118
AOL News	109	99	106	94
Yahoo! News	94	106	99	99
Topix.Com	82	105	116	124
Digg.Com	75	102	122	102*
Source: comScore Plan Metrix, March 2008 Composition Index = Percent of Newspaper Reader Segments/Percent of Internet Users x 100; Index of 100 represents parity.

"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.

And there's more stat's for you:

Older Internet Users Feel Web Advertising and Content Not Relevant

A recent BurstMedia survey of more than 13,000 web users 18 years and older found that online content providers are not meeting the needs of all age segments. A majority of Internet users 45 years and older believe online content is focused on younger age segments.

Overall, 52.0% of respondents believe Internet content is primarily focused toward people their own age. Not surprisingly, says the study, younger respondents are most likely to say online content is focused on people their age. This is particularly true for the 18-24 year and 25-34 year segments. Additionally, 55.7% of respondents 35-44 years perceive online content as focused toward their age segment. Few respondents 55 years and older say Internet content is primarily focused on people their age.

Respondents Who Believe Web Content is Focused Towards People their Own Age (% of respondents)
Age	% of Respondents
18-24	76.0%
25-34	73.9
35-44	55.7
45-54	35.4
55-64	22.9
65+	12.0
Source: BurstMedia, February 2008

Similar to the content findings, 75.9% of respondents 18-34 years say websites are designed for people their age. Among respondents 35-45 year this perception slips to 55.2%.

• Only 36.9% of respondents 45-54 years believe websites are designed for people their age
• 19.9% of respondents 55 years and older say websites are designed for people their age.

Overall, only 38.6% of respondents believe online advertising is focused on people their age. It is only among respondents 18-24 and 25-34 years that a majority believes online advertising is focused on their age groups, 56.6% and 56.5% respectively.

Among respondents 35 years and older the prevailing perception is that online advertising is focused on younger age segments.

• 43.8% of respondents 35-44 years, say online advertising is focused on people their ages
• 52.9% say online advertising is focused on people younger
• 72.5% of respondents 45-54 years say online advertising is focused on people younger than they are
• 83.2% of respondents 55 years and older feel the focus is on younger people

Overall, three out of five of respondents are visiting more websites in a typical week than they were one year ago. An expanded catalogue of sites visited is not only a phenomenon of the young, but is found among all age segments. In fact, 62.8% of respondents 55 years and older say they are visiting more sites today in a typical week of web surfing than they were one year ago.

Number of Sites Visited During Typical Week Compared to One Year Ago (% of Respondents)
Sites Visited	% of Respondents
Many more	33.8%
A few more	25.8
About the same	26.2
Fewer	7.2
Not sure	7.0
Source: BurstMedia, February 2008

Local/national news is the most popular content consumed online with half (48.9%) of respondents regularly seeking it out. There are differences in the types of content consumed by age segments. Among respondents 18-34 years, entertainment information (44.7%) is the most regularly sought online content, followed by:

• Local/national news (40.1%)
• Online games (38.1%)
• Shopping/product information (36.1%)
• Information for work (35.0%)
• Online communities such as social networks, forums and blogs (31.4%)

Local/national news (54.2%) is the most popular online content for respondents 35-54 years. Other types of online content sought by this age group include:

• Shopping/product information (44.8%)
• Information for work (42.7%)
• Health information (37.1%)
• Entertainment information (37.0%)
• Travel information (33.7%)

Local/national news is by far the most popular online content for respondents 55 years and older - with over one-half (55.9%) of this segment saying they regularly seek it out online. Other types of content sought include:

• Shopping/product information (44.0%)
• Health information (42.5%)
• International news (38.9%)
• Travel information (38.2%)
• Food information/recipes (34.1%)

Two-thirds (67.7%) of respondents say their daily routine would be disrupted if their Internet access was taken away and not available for one week (42.9% say "significantly"). This survey findings are consistent among all age segments, with the oldest segment looking very much like the youngest segment

For more information, please visit Burst Media here.

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