Although the advertising side of the U.S. newspaper business is hurting, readership is skyrocketing, Editor & Publisher reported Wednesday. In January, 25 of the top 30 newspaper Web sites saw a rise in unique visitors, Nielsen Online's latest report shows.

The New York Daily News reported the highest increase - a 150 percent increase over the same time last year, to 7.7 million monthly uniques.

The Daily News is followed by the Orlando Sentinel, which posted a year-over-year increase of 102 percent, to 2 million unique visitors, according to the Nielsen data, Editor & Publisher reported.

The only newspaper Web sites to see less unique users in Jan. 2009 than Jan. 2008 were USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, Newsday, the Baltimore Sun and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, according to Editor & Publisher.