Newspaper Web site traffic is falling month-over-month, according to new figures provided by the Newspaper Association of America.
The association published the latest Q4 data for newspaper Web sites provided by Nielsen Online. The number of unique users declined when comparing October (73.2 million uniques) to November (72.3 million uniques) to December (70.3 million uniques). The average time spent per person during the course of the month was mixed during the quarter. In October, the average time spent was 34 minutes and 14 seconds. In November, it was 32 minutes and 44 seconds. In December, it was 34 minutes and 52 seconds. Total sessions and page views decreased month-over-month. The NAA pointed out that on average for Q4, 72 million people visited newspaper Web sites -- more than one-third of all Internet users. That figure, however, shows that newspapers Web sites have stalled reaching new Internet users. In Q4 2008, 41% of all active Web users visited newspaper Web sites -- though there was a heavy political news cycle in Q4 2008.
