The study titled “How America Shops and Spends 2011,” found that 79 percent of adults said they “took action” as a result of newspaper advertising in the past month including clipping a coupon (54%), making a purchase (46%), visiting a website to learn more (37%), and trying something for the first time (20%).

“This important new research reaffirms the power of newspaper advertising to engage consumers and drive them to take action,” said NAA President and CEO John Sturm.

“More than all other media, adults continue to turn to newspapers to inform shopping decisions that lead to purchases. They are an opt-in media in an opt-out world, making newspaper advertising an ideal and effective choice for advertisers who want to reach consumers ready to shop and spend.”

Advertising on local newspaper websites ranked second (behind only e-mailed store or product information) among online options for advertising sources, beating general interest websites, paid ads that appear on the right side of the search engines , ads on social network pages, and ads on mobile devices.

The study found that other media trailed behind newspapers as the main source for checking advertising. he closest competitor – the Internet – trailed newspapers by seven percentage points (35 percent vs. 28 percent) Direct mail received a 12 percent response, and television was cited by nine percent of respondents.

Other highlights from the study include:

*More than half of all adults (52 percent) identify newspapers as the medium they use to help plan shopping or make purchase decisions.

*Almost three-fourths (72 percent) of all adults regularly or occasionally read newspaper preprints; For Sunday inserts, this figure increases to 90 percent of all adults. Over the course of 30 days, 8 in 10 adults (79 percent) acted on newspaper preprint advertising.

*Nearly four-in-10 (38 percent) adults who identify themselves as newspaper “non-readers” recalled other forms of engagement in the past week, including checking sales in local stores, clipping coupons, comparing prices, checking movie or TV listings and classifieds.

The analysis, by comScore for the Newspaper Association of America, also indicates that newspaper websites continue to attract key demographics, reaching 58 percent of 25-to-34-year-olds and 73 percent of individuals in households earning more than $100,000 a year on average through out the quarter.

The findings also pointed toward audience engagement, with newspaper website visitors generating an average of 4.1 billion page views each month, spending nearly 3.4 billion minutes browsing the sites. 
 
“Newspaper websites stand out in today’s online environment, with trusted brands and high-quality journalism attracting an impressive audience that sets them apart from other players in the digital space,” said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm. 

“As publishers continue to reinvent their business models, digital is at the forefront of a multiplatform transition that has seen steady growth in online advertising revenue.”

Figures released by NAA in early December indicate that online advertising generated $690 million for newspapers in last year’s third quarter, a nearly 11 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.
 

The report also found newspaper websites reach more than half (55%) of 25-to-34-year-olds and 73 percent of individuals in households earning more than $100,000 a year.

“This data from comScore reinforces how newspaper publishers are leveraging original, high-quality content to build a powerful and engaged audience in the digital space,” said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.

“The analysis also paints a powerful picture of our medium’s Web audience, with newspaper websites attracting consumers that deliver maximum value to advertisers.”

Other highlights from the report include:

Nearly 61% of adults aged 18 and over visited a newspaper Website in September. In that same time period, 51% of individuals in that age group visited Yahoo! News Network, 22% visited CNN and 27% visited MSNBC

The comScore data for those September visitors also show that users generated nearly 4.1 billion page views and spent more than 3.3 billion minutes on the sites.
 

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.
 

More than half (57%) of the 3,050 respondents cited local newspaper websites as the top online source for local information. That percentage increases for upper income households (63%) and for the college educated (60%).

Newspaper sites ranked first as a source for local information (29%), local sports (27%), local entertainment (26%) and local classifieds (39%), over both local television websites and online portals.

"This important research provides further evidence of newspapers’ successful multiplatform transition, with the medium serving as a continuous local resource for consumers," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.

"While newspaper Web sites often face dozens of competitors touting their own local offerings in any given market, they have been able to thrive by leveraging trusted brands and strong local content to appeal to consumers and advertisers alike."

Local newspaper websites ranked first among all sources for trustworthiness, credibility and being the most informative place to find local content of all types, including news, information, entertainment, sports and classified advertising. When respondents were asked what sources were most trustworthy or reliable, local newspaper websites beat out local television sites (34% vs. 22%), local sports (30% vs. 24%), local entertainment (30% vs. 20%) and local classifieds (42% vs. 13 %).

The survey also found that people consider local newspaper websites to be the most trusted source of online advertising, with ads that are seen to be more current, credible and relevant to them.

Forty percent of adults agreed their opinion of online advertising is influenced by the type of website on which the ad appears. More than one third (36%) selected local newspaper websites for trustworthy advertising compared to 23 percent for local television websites and 12 percent for online portals. This was true across all demographics.

"This survey reinforces the notion that consumers value and trust the premium-quality content found at newspaper Web sites as well as the advertising on those sites," said Randy Bennett, NAA’s senior vice president of Business Development.

"It also provides further evidence that newspapers, which attracted a record 75 million visitors in January, offer advertisers a high-value audience that no other medium can match."

The figures come from a custom analysis by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America.  Newspaper websites users generated more than 3.2 billion page views during the quarter, spending more than 2.4 billion minutes sites.

"These strong and consistent audience figures come as newspaper publishers continue to transition their companies into multiplatform content providers to meet the needs of today’s audience," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.

"As the economy begins to stabilize, newspaper companies are in position to leverage their trusted brands to reach a highly engaged audience and deliver maximum value to advertisers."

Time spent per person during the fourth quarter varied. In October users spent an average of 34 minutes and 14 seconds on newspaper websites. In November it was 32 minutes and 44 seconds. In December it was up slightly to 34 minutes and 52 seconds.

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Newspaper website visitors generated more than 3.5 billion page views during the quarter, spending 2.7 billion minutes browsing the sites over more than 596 million sessions.

The NAA says there are higher levels of subscribers keeping subscriptions, with subscriber "churn" falling dramatically to 31.8 percent in 2008, compared with 54.5 percent in 2000.

The higher retention rate among subscribers could be due to the fact that in 2008, 92 percent of newspapers offered a discount for participating in a recurring payment plan; 38 percent of new subscriptions were sold on a recurring payment plan while only 28 percent were sold with no initial payment required.

In addition, 32 percent of newspapers priced their daily edition at 75 cents at the end of 2008 (vs. just 2 percent in 2006), while the average seven-day, home-delivery weekday rate rose 8.6 percent at the same time newspapers are increasing retention

"Newspaper publishers continue to aggressively reinvent their business models, leveraging trusted brands to attract a growing and sophisticated audience in the digital space," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.  "At the same time, industry executives have adopted smarter circulation strategies that are growing circulation revenues even though paid circulation numbers are lower." 

"This places the focus where it belongs:  retaining core readers who deliver maximum value to advertisers while harnessing digital platforms to broaden our medium’s audience and position us strongly for the future."

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In a document submitted to the Newspaper Association of America in a response to a request made by the NAA to a number of companies, Google outlined its proposed payment plan.

In a document posted by Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab, the company said " Google believes that an open web benefits all users and publishers. However, ‘open’ need not mean free. We believe that content on the Internet can thrive supported by multiple business models – including content available only via subscription."

The company said its payment system would be an extension of Google Checkout, and would be "available to both Google and non-Google properties within the next year."

"While we believe that advertising will likely remain the main source of revenue for most news content, a paid model can serve as an important source of additional revenue," Google said.

"Google has experience not only with our e-commerce products; we have successfully built consumer products used by millions around the world," it said. "We can use this expertise to help create a successful e-commerce platform for publishers."

Key features of Google’s proposed payment plan include:

• Single sign-on capability for users to access content and manage subscriptions
• Ability for publishers to combine subscriptions from different titles together for one price
• Ability for publishers to create multiple payment options and easily include/exclude
• content behind a paywall
• Multiple tiers of access to search including 1) snippets only with "subscription" label, 2)
• access to preview pages and 3) "first click free" access
• Advertising systems that offer highly relevant ads for users, such as interest-based
• advertising

News paper website visitors viewed 3.5 billion page views during the month, spending 2.7 billion minutes browsing the sites in more than 597 million sessions.

"The newspaper audience continues to expand as publishers aggressively capitalize on their investments in digital properties, adding robust features and launching new products to attract a highly valuable consumer audience," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm. 

Click Image to Enlarge

"Advertisers who want to reach consumers ready to make purchasing decisions continue to use the trusted newspaper brand to ensure their messages are heard through the crowd."

The Nielsen numbers come as early data from a MORI Research survey of 3,000 adults, indicates that newspaper advertising remains the leading medium cite by consumers in planning, shopping and making purchasing decisions. More than half (59%) report newspaper advertising helps them plan purchasing decisions.

The majority (82%) of newspaper readers took some action as a result of a print newspaper ad in the past 30 days: 61 percent clipped a coupon, 50 percent bought something advertised and 52 visited a store.

While the number are impressive, it’s no secret the newspaper industry as a whole continues to struggle. In March the Hearst Corporation announced it was ending the print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and going to an online-only publication. In February, E.W. Scripps announced it was shuttering the entire 150 year-old Rocky Mountain News.

The gathering was part of the Newspaper Association of America’s annual event and included top executives from the New York Times, Gannett, E.W. Scripps, McClatchy, Hearst Newspapers and MediaNews Group among others.

"The group discussed topics such as protection of intellectual property rights and approaches to the Congress and Administration to address these and other issues," said John F. Sturm, president and CEO, Newspaper Association of America.

John F. Sturm

"With antitrust counsel present, the group listened to executives from companies representing various new models for obtaining value from newspaper content online," said Sturm. "The participants also shared success stories in driving new revenue to their newspapers products."

Other topics included a possible industry wide solution to classified advertising. Newspaper print editions have seen sharp declines of $7 billion, or 40 percent, of their annual classified advertising revenue since 2006, with the majority of it moving to free or less expensive options online.

News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said on Thursday in an interview with his Fox Business Network that offering news online for free was "going to stop" and newspapers were going to start having to charge readers for online content.

"I believe newspapers will be selling subscriptions on the Web," he said. "You’re going to have to pay for your favorite newspaper on the Web."