Newspapers are read by a critical mass of adults in the US on a daily and weekly basis, according to the latest Integrated Newspaper Audience (INA)* study from Scarborough Research. Three quarters of adults (74%), or nearly 171 million people, report reading a print or online newspaper during the previous week.
Printed newspapers attract educated and affluent readers, the analysis finds. In an average week, printed newspapers reach the the following readers:
- 79% of adults employed in white-collar positions.
- 82% of adults with household incomes of $100,000 or more.
- 84% of adults who are college graduates or who have advanced degrees.
"While our data does show that print newspaper readership is slowly declining, it also illustrates that reports about the pending death of the newspaper industry are not supported by audience data," said Gary Meo, Scarborough's senior vice-president of its Print and Digital Media Services. "Given the fragmentation of media choices, printed newspapers are holding onto their audiences relatively well, and this is refreshing news."
*Integrated Newspaper Audience is the percentage of adults in the market who have read the printed newspaper over five weekdays or on Sunday, or visited the newspaper's website, or have done both during the previous seven days.
