Newspapers' online audiences are growing twice as fast as the Internet's general audience, according to research by Nielsen//NetRatings for the Newspaper Association of America.

This new research is being used to support the NAA's new ad campaign, Newspaper: The Multi-Medium. The campaign aims to attract marketers to newspaper Web sites based on the apparent higher earning power and sophistication of newspaper readers compared to average web surfers.

“With newspapers reaching 70 percent of the adult population each week, advertisers have the opportunity to communicate their message to an audience that views advertising as an integral part of the newspaper package,” said John Sturm, NAA President and CEO, in a statement on the NAA's Web site.

The Nielsen//NetRatings report for the NAA found that:

• An average of more than 59 million people (37.6 percent of all active Internet users) visited newspaper Web sites each month during the first quarter. That's a 5.3 percent increase over the same period last year. During the same quarter, the Internet's overall audience grew 2.7 percent.

• Roughly nine out of 10 newspaper Web site visitors (88.1 percent) have made a purchase online in the last six months, compared with 78.9 percent of the total online audience. Four in 10 (41 percent) of online newspaper readers work in professional managerial jobs, compared with one in three (32.7 percent) of the overall Internet population.

• About 12 percent of people who have visited newspaper Web sites have annual household incomes of more than $150,000. Less than one in 10 (9.3 percent) of the Internet's total audience earns that much.

• More newspaper Web site users have read blogs in the past month (28 percent), as opposed to the overall Internet population (16.7 percent).

• Nearly three in 10 (28.9 percent) of Internet newspaper readers have looked for or posted a product review in the past month, versus 16.1 percent of the general Internet population.