Scarborough says that the ‘online exclusive’ audience, the audience that reads a newspaper’s website but not its printed version, accounts for two to 15% of the integrated newspaper audience of the publications examined in its report.
The websites contribute 119,501 additional readers who do not read the printed newspaper, an increase of almost seven percent more adults than are reached by the daily and Sunday newspaper on its own.
In addition, the report shows that newspapers are successfully attracting large numbers of 18-34 year olds to their websites.
The analysis also reveals how affluent are the users of newspapers and their websites, with 60% of Washington Post readers during the past week having an income of over $75,000 or more, whilst that figure increases to 73% for visitors to washingtonpost.com.
Unsurprisingly, the research shows that newspapers with nationwide appeal perform well online, as do local papers driven by prominent industries in their geographic location, such as the Washington Post (politics) and the Los Angeles Times (entertainment).