NYT/Reuters: Online News Audience Growth Slows in US: Survey

[DeepModem Mom]

Online News Audience Growth Slows in US: Survey
By REUTERS
Published: July 30, 2006

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Far more Americans use the Internet to get their news than a decade ago but the rate of online news audience growth is slowing, according to a study released on Sunday.

Nearly one in three Americans regularly used the Internet to get their news in 2006, compared to one in 50 in 1996, according to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press. That number is about the same as it was two years ago, said Pew Research Center Director Andrew Kohut.

The growth rate in online news usage has been slower among younger readers. The percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who get the news online at least three days a week rose only 1 percentage point to 30 percent during the past six years....

***

On a wider level, the percentage of Americans who skip the news on a single day has remained the same since the 1990s, the study said....Forty percent of those under age 30 said they watched a movie at home on video, DVD or pay-per-view yesterday, compared to 24 percent who said they read a newspaper or went online for news....Newspapers in particular have suffered declining circulation as people seek their news elsewhere, often for free on television and the Internet.

Four in 10 Americans reported reading a newspaper ''yesterday,'' down from 50 percent a decade ago and down from 71 percent reported by a Gallup survey in 1965, the Pew study said....

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-media-onlinenews-survey.html

[OneBlueSky]

1. NY Times and Reuters . . . would they say anything different? . . . n/t

.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. They do, in fact, point out the decline in newspaper readership.

The headline here, I think, is somewhat misleading as to the scope of the article.

[flowomo]

7. yes, it covers many aspects of the issue....

see my thread in GD:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1777887

[DeepModem Mom]

8. Thanks, flowomo! nt

[daleo]

2. Growth has to slow as time goes on

That's just the nature of penetration of technologies and customs in a population. Growth can be spectacular when the base is small, but as the base gets larger, increases will start to fall off.

[ShockediSay]

4. With the news there is to look at, who can blame kids

for wanting to escape to their video games. There at least the good guys can win and the bad guys can lose.

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Whistling past the graveyard.

[flowomo]

6. read the whole study here:

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=1064