About 21 million Europeans are regular visitors to newspaper websites, according to a new report by Forrester Research. This is equivalent to just 8% of the the continent’s population.
Nevertheless, the study found that individuals who access web newspapers are generally younger, wealthier, and better educated than the average consumer. They also tend to have a more positive view on technology than offline readers.
The Swedish have been revealed to be the most enthusiastic viewers of online newspaper content. 28% of the population regularly visit newspaper websites. Approximately 11% of Italians and Germans read newspapers online but only 5% of UK and French residents partake in this activity.
Publishers have been concerned that an increase in visitors to newspaper sites would adversely affect sales of printed editions. However, this was not borne out by a study in France this February which found that newspapers with websites had outperformed siteless titles in the last two years (See Newspaper Websites Are Not Reducing News-Stand Sales, Says Pressflex).
