Online time spent on news will surpass print, radio in 2010.
20 October, 2009
Jay Leno recently congratulated the New York Times for being in business for 158 years. The punch line, of course, was that he had read about the milestone on the Internet. According to US September 2009 studies by ARAnet and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press television remains Americans’ primary source of news. However, online gained 20% in the last year, while the traditional channels lost between 10% and 18% versus last year.
Next year
While fewer respondents selected TV as their biggest news source compared with last year, TV is still well ahead of daily newspapers, radio and the internet. Almost 15% of respondents’ time spent on news was online, meaning that at this rate online will pass both Radio and Newspapers in 2010 as the main source for news.
Credibility
When asked to rate the credibility of media sources, US adults ranked them in nearly the same order as their preferences, with TV coming out on top, followed by newspapers and radio tied for second place. Online was third, rated 5.7 on a 10-point scale, with 10 being “extremely credible”; only the positions of magazines and free shopper newspapers were reversed.
Audience
According to ARAnet’s study; “Of course, the younger the respondent, the more likely they are to rely on online sources. Another trend to watch is the increased use of online sources for news and information among the students and people making more than $100,000 per year”. Adults ages 30 to 49 were most likely to prefer the Internet for local news. Newspapers and television generally increased in popularity with the age of the respondents.
The results of this research, which I think translates well to the way the European audience behaves, prove that print news media, while not having a decent business model ready for online, cannot afford to cut back on online activities without risking to lose their audience altogether. Even without knowing how to survive online, this report confirms that newspapers must migrate there – and figure the model out along the way.
Copypaste this story
Mail to a friend - Copypaste to del.icio.us