Online sites top newspapers for Americans: report

Published : Mar 15, 2011 - 10:48 Updated : Mar 15, 2011 - 10:48

WASHINGTON (AFP) - More Americans are getting their news from the Internet than from print newspapers for the first time as audience figures for cable news programs fall, according to a report released on Monday.

The State of the News Media 2011 report by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism said that in another first, online advertising revenue topped that of print newspapers last year.

Forty-six percent of Americans now get news online at least three times a week, surpassing newspapers (40 percent) for the first time, the report said.

"People are spending more time with news than ever before," the report said. "But when it comes to the platform of choice, the Web is gaining ground rapidly while other sectors are losing."

It said only local television news is a more popular platform than online news sites with 50 percent of Americans citing it as their top news destination.

The audience for cable television news declined substantially in 2010, the report said, with the median viewership falling by 16 percent to an average of
3.2 million in prime-time.

CNN's median prime-time viewership fell 37 percent to 564,000 viewers.

Evening network television news audiences fell by 752,000 viewers, or 3.4
percent, from 2009, but network TV news still attracted an average audience of 21.6 million people.

Print newspaper circulation continued to decline in 2010 with weekday circulation down five percent and Sunday circulation falling 4.5 percent.

Print newspaper advertising revenue fell 6.4 percent in 2010 from the previous year to $22.8 billion while newspapers made an additional $3 billion from online ads.

"For the first time, more money was spent on online advertising than on print newspaper advertising," the report said. Online advertising grew 13.9 percent overall to $25.8 billion in 2010 according to figures from eMarketer.

Circulation revenue for newspapers is expected to be flat or down marginally in 2010, the report said, after falling 10 percent from 2003 to 2009.

Despite sliding print ad revenue and circulation, newspapers "generally are
still operating in the black," the report said, with profit margins around five
percent.

On the job front, the report said US newspapers "trimmed only marginally in
2010" after cutting nearly a third of their staff in the previous decade.

"We estimate losses of about 1,100 to 1,500 people, or three percent to
four percent," it said.

Online news outlets, meanwhile, are hiring, the report said, citing AOL, Yahoo! and The Huffington Post, which was purchased by AOL for $315 million.

(captured from The Huffington Post)

Meanwhile, the number of ad pages sold across the magazine industry overall
was flat in 2010 (down 0.1 percent) after steep declines in 2008 (11.7 percent)
and in 2009 (25.6 percent), the report said.

While fewer Americans are reading print newspapers, more are using their
cellphones and tablet computers like Apple's iPad to get local news and
information.

Forty-seven percent of Americans use cellphones or tablet computers to get
information on local weather, restaurant listings, local news and sports scores
and traffic conditions, the report said.

But only 13 percent of mobile device owners are using applications, or apps, to tap into local information, the report found, and just 10 percent of that group pays for an app -- amounting to just one percent of the total US adult population.

"Many news organizations are looking to mobile platforms, in particular mobile apps, to provide new ways to generate subscriber and advertising revenues in local markets," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.

"The survey suggests there is a long way to go before that happens."

<관련 기사>

<美 온라인뉴스 독자, 처음으로 신문 앞서>

(뉴욕 AFP.dpa=연합뉴스) 미국에서 처음으로 온라인 뉴스의 독자와 광고 수입이 신문의 독자와 광고 수입보다 많은 것으로 집계됐다.

미국 퓨 리서치 센터 산하 '우수한 저널리즘 프로젝트'(PEJ)는 14일 '뉴스미디어 실태' 조사에서 응답자 46%가 최소 주 3회 온라인 뉴스를 본다고 밝힌 반면 신문혹은 신문사 웹사이트를 통해 뉴스에 접한다는 40%였다고 밝혔다.

톰 로젠스틸 PEJ 국장은 "독자들의 웹으로의 이동이 더 빨라지고 있다"고 지적하고 "게다가 태블릿과 스마트폰 보급으로 그 추세를 가속화되고 있다"고 분석했다.

이번 조사결과를 통해 신문사들의 광고수입이 감소되고 있다는 것은 물론 독자들이 온라인 뉴스로 옮겨가면서 정보 및 광고도 그 뒤를 따라가고 있다는 사실이 새삼 확인됐다.

TV업계에서 광고수입이 다시 증가하고 있는 가운데 미국 미디어그룹 가냇, 뉴욕타임스, 매클래치는 광고수입이 계속 감소하고 있다며 울상을 짓고 있다.

신문사들은 지난 10년 동안 이같은 움직임에 따라 인력을 축소했는데 이번 조사에서는 그동안 뉴스룸 인력이 30%나 줄어들었다는 수치가 제시됐다.

신문사들은 독자와 광고수입의 감소를 만회하기 위해 자신들의 웹사이트에 접근하는 독자들에게 유료서비스를 하는 쪽으로 움직이고 있다.

뉴욕타임스의 경우에는 조만간에 일부 웹사이트 기사를 유료화한다는 방침을 세우고 준비를 서두르고 있다.

이에 앞서 30여개 신문사가 웹사이트 기사 유료화를 시도했으나 독자의 1%만이이에 동조함으써 유로화가 쉽지 않을 것으로 점쳐지고 있다.

이번 조사에서 조사 대상자의 23%가 지방신문 발행이 중단되면 온라인 신문을 보는 데 월 5달러를 지불할 수 있다는 의사를 밝힌 것으로 조사됐다.