More people than ever are reading newspapers online, driven by a huge surge of interest from women and a radical shift from paper to mobile devices like iPhones, a cheerful Newspaper Association report reveals.
Digital users reached a new peak in August, with 164 million unique visitors recorded on newspaper sites, an 18 percent increase from last August. That’s about half of the U.S. population of 313 million.
And 38 percent of digital readers chose mobile devices, higher than any other tool, said the association. Some 34 percent read online with a desktop or laptop, and 28 percent use both mobile and larger computers to “engage with newspaper digital content.”
The report provides the long-sought confirmation for newspapers to have either cut back or scrapped their print product and moved content online. The report, however, gave no clues on whether news organizations are making money with the shift.
Key details from the media measurement firm comScore:
The shift isn’t just among younger readers, according to an association “Executive Briefing” paper. For example, the digital reading of women 55 and older surged 21 percent, a new high. And one chart showing newspaper digital audience age found that the lowest usage was 71 percent by men 18-24; the high is 92 percent among women age 25-34.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
