U.S. newspaper companies drove record traffic to their websites in the first quarter of 2010, attracting 74.4 million unique visitors per month on average or 37 percent of all Internet users, according to a new report from Nielsen Online released by the Newspaper Association of America.

The new record follows the solid audience newspapers delivered in last year’s fourth quarter, with newspaper websites attracting an average of 72 million unique visitors per month during that period.

The report also found newspaper website users generated more than 3.2 billion page views during the first quarter, spending more than 2.3 billion minutes browsing the sites.

"Newspaper publishers continue to experiment with aggressive new business models, leveraging trustworthy and robust content to attract large audiences to their digital properties month after month," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.

"As the economic outlook begins to improve, our industry will continue to shape its own future with digital products and services that grow audience and offer maximum value to advertisers."

The Nielsen Online figures reflect recent data from comScore indication consumers consider local newspaper websites to be the most trusted source of online advertising, with ads that are perceived to be the most credible and relevant to them. The study also found consumers consider local newspaper websites to be the top source for local information.