Nielsen Online: Newspaper Web Site Readership Rising

Turns out the medium isn’t the message. While more people are turning online for their news, an increasing number are looking to disciplined professional newspaper people to provide the news they trust, according to a story we saw, um, on a blog:

According to a custom analysis by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America, newspaper web sites attracted more than 68.3 million unique visitors on average (41.4% of all Internet users) in the third quarter of 2008, a record number that reflects a 15.8% increase over the same period a year ago.

We’re guessing the election has helped boost those numbers, but it’s not likely to backslide … unless, of course, smaller newsrooms provide less smart analysis and trustworthy information.

Randy Bennett, NAA’s senior vice president of Audience and New Business Development, concludes that “The dramatic increase in page views suggests users are visiting newspaper Web sites frequently throughout the day.”

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