Study: Newspaper readership down, despite online increase

Growth in online readership is not enough to offset the drop in print readership, the Pew Research Center reported in a study last week.

The report follows Pew’s 2008 news media consumption survey in which 39 percent of participants claimed to having read a newspaper (either print or online) the day before, showing a drop from 43 percent in 2006. Meanwhile, readership of print newspapers fell from 34 percent to 25 percent in that time period.

Of those surveyed, overall newspaper readership saw a decline, while the percentage of Americans who said they read an online newspaper increased by 6 percent. According to the report, online readers now compose more than a third of all newspaper readers.

The changes in reader habits seem to be similar amongst both Generation X and Y demographics, where marked increases in consulting online news sources were observed. Baby Boomers, however, continue to read print newspapers more than younger generations, with their tendency towards printed news remaining 13 percent to 18 percent higher than young audiences.

Regardless of where they get their news from, the worrying trend among older generations is that their readership in general is on the decline. The Pew Research Center reports: “the decline in newspaper readership is not solely attributable to the fact that the youngest cohorts are increasingly less likely to read newspapers; newspapers are also suffering from a loss of readership within older age cohorts.”