Websites help newspapers to spread the word

Published on Tuesday 24 November 2009 21:25

WEBSITES increase the reach of regional and local newspapers by at least 14 per cent, according to data published yesterday by the Newspaper Society.

The additional reach was in the core 25-64 age group and was more up-market than the traditional newspaper audience said Telmar, a media planning firm that has integrated internet audience and print readership data.

David Fordham, the society's president, said: "More than 80 per cent of adults read a local newspaper and, ironically, at a time when our revenues have been under challenge, audiences have been growing across multimedia platforms." He said they would study how, why, when and for how long people surf their local newspaper website.

Danny Cammiade, chief operating officer of Johnston Press, owner of The Scotsman, added: "This data demonstrates our credibility and worth to the advertising agencies. It is a good example of the industry working together to show the strength of local community publishing."