Newspaper Readers are Heavy Internet Users: Study
Avid newspaper readers are even heavier Internet users, according to Yahoo’s Newspaper Loyalist study released this week.
About 42% of this group read the newspaper each day; 72% go online daily, in part for research that supplements their newspaper reading.
Survey respondents told Yahoo that they like the Internet’s breadth of content, timeliness and convenience, and they like being able to control content delivery.
Most newspaper loyalists read the paper for leisure, focusing on the entertainment section, comics, and ad circulars rather than news or business sections. Nearly 70% of newspaper loyalists use the Internet for local information, including news, weather, and local events. Sixty-one percent goes online to look up local information.
Two-thirds of newspaper loyalists use newspapers, the Internet, and retail stores to research and make purchases. More than half go online to research a specific product mentioned in a newspaper circular.
The study shows “the need for marketers to communicate their messages to consumers through multiple media,” said Yahoo’s Chief Sales Officer Wenda Harris Millard in a statement.
The two-part study includes a qualitative survey of 22 consumers ages 18-49 in New York City and San Francisco (conducted by Faulkner Focus) and a quantitative online survey of 1,182 consumers in six cities (conducted by Ipsos-Insight). Sunnyvale, CA-based Yahoo presented its results at the Advertising Research Federation conference this week.
