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HotTopics: Second Annual News Users Study: Online News Gaining Ground

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Authors: Ken Doctor, Affiliate Analyst; Sheila King, Director of Primary Research

This HotTopics aims to deepen news providers’ understanding of news readers’ changing behaviors in a market where online reading habits are taking hold. It covers:

- News readers’ frequency of using these news sources: magazines, newspapers, GYM (Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL), online newspapers, other online sites, blogs, news podcasts, radio, and TV/cable/satellite
- News source use by age and household income
- News source use by time of day and topic
- Use of online sites versus daily newspapers for shopping research
- Implications and Outsell’s recommendations for the news industry

In researching this HotTopics, Outsell completed 2,787 surveys with U.S. consumers. The sample represents the total U.S. population using weighting by age group, at a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of +/- 3%.


Pub Date: February 9, 2007
Type: HotTopic
Segments: NEWS SAS
Keywords: Advertising, Business Models, Market Analysis, Market Statistics, Users
Pages: 42
Format: PDF Application_pdf

We provide a link to download a PDF at the end of the purchase process.

Table of Contents

  • Why This Topic
  • Executive Summary of Findings
  • Methodology
  • Readers Tune In to the Frequency that Works for Them
    1. GYM Makes the Big Four; Blogs and Podcasts Rocket to Daily Use
  • Young People Think Digital, Regardless of Who Owns the Site
  • Higher-Income Readers Show Promise for Newspapers and Their Sites
  • Time of Day, Topic, and Pictures All Make a Big Difference
    1. Time of Day Makes a Big Difference
    2. National News Has Moved Away From Print
    3. Video and Audio Have Gone Mainstream
    4. Business News in a State of Flux
    5. Sports Still Rests with Traditional Media
    6. Travel Makes Online its Primary Destination
    7. Health Is Up for Grabs
    8. Following the Money Means Going Online
    9. Real Estate/Recruitment: Two Niches That Matter to Classifieds-Based Newspapers
  • Newspapers Still Have the Upper Hand in Local Information
  • The Fraying Reading/Commerce Connection
    1. Auctions Have Revolutionized Buying and Selling
    2. Mass Market Advertising Inevitably Means Waste
  • Implications for the News Industry
  • Outsell's List of Essential Actions
  • Companies Mentioned in This HotTopics
  • - Apple Computer
  • - Avista Capital Holdings
  • - Belo Corporation
  • - CareerBuilder.com
  • - Classified Ventures
  • - CNN
  • - craigslist
  • - DotConnect Media
  • - The E. W. Scripps Company
  • - eBay
  • - Financial Times
  • - Google
  • - Healthline Networks
  • - The Hearst Corporation
  • - Journal Register Company
  • - Lee Enterprises
  • - MarketWatch
  • - The McClatchy Company
  • - Media General
  • - MediaNews Group
  • - Monster Worldwide
  • - MSN
  • - Newsweek
  • - New York Times Company
  • - Orbitz
  • - ShopLocal
  • - Shopzilla
  • - Shopping.com
  • - The Star Tribune Company
  • - Time Warner
  • - The Tribune Company
  • - TripAdvisor
  • - U.S. News & World Report
  • - Washington Post
  • - Yahoo!
  • - Yelp
  • - YouTube
  • - WebMD Health Corporation