Are Your Readers On-line or in Print?

I have a question for those of you who work on daily newspapers. What percentage of your readers are on-line and what percentage are reading you in the print edition?

I certainly do not want to out anyone but if feel comfortable sharing the size of your paper (I define a paper with more than 75k circulation as large, 25-75k mid-sized and less than 25k small), that would be interesting. I realize circulation numbers can be tightly guarded and you may have to guess.

Also, if you feel can describe your beat in general terms (professional, high schools, etc.) that would be interesting (at least to me).

 

Good topic. I think the higher ups believe the majority of readers are online by far. I think the idea is the only people reading the stories in print are the people that would read anything in print (old people) no matter the quality. I think the idea is to make the online story very very excellent assuming more are reading it. Now are they reading it in detail? Maybe? Maybe not?

 

We're still "large" (relatively speaking) and have all kinds of reader metrics. We have far more "readers" online, but that may not mean much. Because the amount of time an online reader stays engaged with our product is far shorter than the time a print reader stays engaged.

 

We're pretty large and get most of our readership online (except for Starbucks and, thankfully, our well-off delivery holdouts), and we try to turn almost every web-first story into the thought pieces we are known for. The efforts aren't always successful.

 

Mid-size paper. Going on nine or 10 years online subscription now.

The numbers, almost to the exact decimal point are 90% print subscribers, 10% online subscribers. Got there in four years. Haven't changed in four years either.

 

Just curious, do print subscribers get a digital subscription as well? And if so, can you tell where exactly they're reading?

 

Yes they do. And I'm sure our techs can tell, but I have absolutely no clue.

 

In other words print is dominant in your market? I still say some muckety-muck 9 to 5 er bean counter types have gotten this all wrong. The only way to make money in "journalism" is via ads in the print product.
BTW: Has anybody done a recent story on kids today, lets say from college freshman to 30 years old? Do any of them read anything but quick hits on twitter? Are any of these people reading newspaper articles online or in print? Also, do 18 to 35 year olds even know what a newspaper is? Seriously.

 

The problem is higher ups are putting lots of time and resources into the online product when in reality the reads of online product likely "peruse" shit far more than readers of the print product. Nobody under 30 actually reads any more because nobody has time to read.

 

In four years I would bet your print subscriptions have declined. So this means your on-line readership has declined at the same rate as print? If so, that is truly frightening.

 

The print went down one year, then held steady one year, then actually went up one year. It's held steady this past year. We're at relatively the same number today as we were four years ago for print give or take a couple hundred subscriptions. Online hasn't budged by a significant percentage in four years.

 

No idea to the latter questions. However, to your first question the answer is emphatically yes. Print wins by far in the market I work in. Remember, I'm at a mid-size daily, not a metro.