Younger, Heavy Online News Consumers Are Not Newspaper Readers, According to comScore Plan Metrix
Study Highlights the Importance of Extending Traditional News Brands to Online
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) , a leader in measuring the digital world, released the results of a study of the differences in online behavior among heavy, medium, light and non-newspaper readers (segments defined below). The results showed that non-newspaper readers are likely to be younger, and they 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.
"That current generations are growing up getting their news online for free is an indicator that print circulations are likely to continue their decline," said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore. "But the Internet represents a significant opportunity to extend -- and even improve upon -- existing news brands and reach out to new consumers with living, breathing real-time content. Just because print circulations are declining does not mean there are fewer news consumers. In fact, just the opposite is true."
Younger News Consumers Less Likely to Read Print Newspapers
Heavy print newspaper readers show a strong skew towards older age segments, while the non-newspaper reader segments skew younger. Those age 65 and older are nearly 3 times more likely (index of 296) 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
Source: comScore Plan Metrix
Composition Index
Heavy Medium Light Non-
Age Demographic Readers
18+ yrs old (Total 100 100 100 100
Audience)
18-24 yrs old 31 80 139 138
25-34 yrs old 51 87 106 127
35-44 yrs old 73 110 107 109
45-54 yrs old 116 123 90 76
55-64 yrs old 186 100 80 71
65+ yrs old 296 60 49 37
*Composition Index = Percent of Newspaper Reader Segments/Percent of
Internet Users x 100; Index of 100 represents parity.
Non-Newspaper Readers are Heavy Online News Consumers
In order to better understand the news consumption habits of these heavy medium, light and non-print newspaper reader segments, comScore looked at their relative propensity to visit several key news sources online, using a selection of key print, TV, and Internet news brands.
Several key takeaways emerged from this study. First, it is clear that 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 studies, including print (e.g. LA Times), TV (e.g. FoxNews.com), and Internet (e.g. Topix.com) brands.
Secondly, both the heavy print newspaper readers and the non-readers show similarly 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. For example, the Web sites for three of the largest U.S. city newspapers -- the New York Times, LA Times and Chicago Tribune -- show above average visitation from both heavy newspaper readers and non-readers.
Finally, 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 Locations
Source: comScore Plan Metrix
Composition Index
Heavy Medium Light Non-
Readers
Print News Brands
NYTIMES.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
ABCNEWS 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
*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."
Print Newspaper Reader Segment Definitions
Segments were 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
About comScore Plan Metrix
comScore Plan Metrix is the only service to combine continuously observed Internet behavior measurement with comprehensive attitudinal, lifestyle and product usage data from the same representative consumer panel, providing agencies, advertisers and media sellers with access to comprehensive consumer information, including: technology ownership and usage, demographic, lifestyle, attitudinal, product purchase and offline media consumption data.
About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. For more information, visit http://www.comscore.com/boilerplate.
Source: comScore, Inc.
