Jul 19, 2007

We have recently completed the 2007 study of America's top 100 newspaper websites, entitled "American Newspapers and the Internet; Threat or Opportunity?". As the newspaper industry continues to suffer declines in readership and circulation, using the Internet to expand a newspaper's reach is becoming more and more important. While many industry experts fear that the Internet will spell the end of newspapers as we know them, our team here at TBG feels that the Internet presents newspapers with a unique opportunity to make up for lost circulation and readership. This study explores these concepts, as well as the difficulties facing newspapers regarding online advertising, shrinking staffs, and reaching out to consumers. Our research examined the websites of the top 100 newspapers in the United States, as determined by circulation (via the Audit Bureau of Circulations). We evaluated all of the websites on the presence of lack of various web features. Here are some of our key findings:

The use of RSS increased in 2007 by 21 percent since 2006. Now 96 of the papers we researched are using this technology. Within this group, 93 papers offer partial text feeds, while three offer full text RSS feeds. No papers have begun embedding advertisements in their RSS feeds.

Ninety-two percent of America’s top 100 papers now offer video on their websites. This represents a significant jump from 2006, where just 61 percent offered video. In this group, there is a mixture of local, Associated Press, and original content available on newspaper websites. Thirty-nine papers offer original content, 26 use AP video streams, 13 offer video content from local news outlets, four papers use all three technologies, and 10 papers use a mixture of two different types of video.

The number and quality of reporter blogs also improved in 2007. Now, 95 percent of papers offer at least one reporter blog. Ninety-three percent (88 papers) of these blogs allow comments. In 2006, 80 percent of the papers offered blogs, with 83 percent (67 papers) allowing comments.

One-third of newspapers now allow comments on articles. This represents a 14% improvement on 2006 statistics, when only 19 percent of papers allowed comments on articles.

The number of papers requiring registration increased by six percent from last year’s results. Twenty-nine percent of the nation’s top 100 papers now require users to register before gaining full access to their website. Of this group, three papers required a paid subscription, while 26 papers required free registration.

Overall, use of online features by newspapers improved across nearly all the categories when compared to last year's research, "The Use of the Internet by America's Newspapers."

Read the study in its entirety here and let us know what you think! Our research data is available in Excel format here.

http://www.docuticker.com/?p=14989 Docuticker » American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?

[...] Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity? (PDF; 371 KB) Source: The Bivings Report From blog post introduction: Our research examined the websites of the top 100 newspapers in the United States, as determined [...]
http://www.mediagiraffe.org/wiki/index.php/Talk:Jtm-dc-next-newsroom Maurreen Skowran

Thanks for the data. This should be very helpful.
http://david-black.org/2007/07/25/links-for-2007-07-25/ links for 2007-07-25 « David Black

[...] American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity? » The Bivings Report “Our research examined the websites of the top 100 newspapers in the United States, as determined by circulation (via the Audit Bureau of Circulations). We evaluated all of the websites on the presence of lack of various web features.” (tags: internet newspapers newspapersites journalism trends analysis bivings) [...]
http://www.bivingsreport.com/2007/newspaper-homepages-and-load-times/ Newspaper Homepages and Load Times » The Bivings Report

[...] recent newspaper study dealt exclusively with the features present on newspaper websites. We [...]
http://blog.vsiai.com/newspaper-homepages-and-load-times/ Newspaper Homepages and Load Times : Wonderful Thoughts

[...] recent newspaper study dealt exclusively with the features present on newspaper websites. We didn’t look critically [...]
http://www.mazzei.milano.it/2007/08/02/links-for-2007-08-02/ Livingston, il blog di Marco Mazzei – links for 2007-08-02

[...] American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity? We have recently completed the 2007 study of America’s top 100 newspaper websites, entitled “American Newspapers and the Internet; Threat or Opportunity?”. As the newspaper industry continues to suffer declines in readership and circulation, using the Int (tags: 2007 analysis internet journalism media report research newspapers trends study publishing usa) [...]
http://minimediaguy.org/2007/08/02/comments-registration-rise-at-paper-websites/ MiniMediaGuy » Blog Archive » Comments, registration rise at paper websites

[...] three out of ten require registration or payment to access their online material, according to a recent survey of how the top 100 U.S. newspapers are adapting web [...]
http://www.fridaynet.ch/index.php/2007/08/03/a-study-by-bivings-on-american-newspapers-and-the-internet/ FridayNet » Blog Archive » A study by Bivings on American Newspapers and the Internet

[...] The Bivings Group published a study called American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity? [...]
http://www.press-feed.com/blog/?p=111 97 percent of newspapers now use RSS » Enterprise RSS Promotion

[...] access the PDF report [...]
Lourdes

These statistic for are for Americans in general…Were any statistics done as far as race or cultural background, such as Hispanic-Americans or African-Americans?
http://www.mariarock.com Maria Rock

How can I find the list of the 100 top newspapers they reviewed? THank you, Maria Rock
http://www.bivingsreport.com Erin Teeling

You can find the list on pg. 31 of the study, located in PDF format here: http://www.bivingsreport.com/w.....udy_22.pdf
http://www.mariarock.com Maria Rock

Just reread the piece and my question was answered…
http://ithacalibrary.com/comblog/?p=76 Communications & Legal Studies Blog » Blog Archive » CMR brief: Bivings report on Internet & Newspapers

[...] CMR brief (see 8/6/07) alerted me to a Bivings Research report that examines top online newspapers entitled, “American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat [...]
http://www.afeedisborn.com/use-of-rss-has-increased-by-21-percent/ Use of RSS has increased by 21 percent

[...] feeds. According to the report no papers have begun embedding advertisements in their RSS feeds. [Source]. You can read the full report in PDF format [...]
http://www.librarystuff.net/2007/08/06/rss-and-newspapers/ Library Stuff » Blog Archives » RSS and Newspapers

[...] The Bivings Group – “The use of RSS increased in 2007 by 21 percent since 2006. Now 96 of the papers we researched are using this technology. Within this group, 93 papers offer partial text feeds, while three offer full text RSS feeds. No papers have begun embedding advertisements in their RSS feeds.” (via) Posted in RSS | Trackback | del.icio.us | Top Of Page [...]
http://www.digmycity.com/forum/f2/newspapers-see-need-online-features-503.html#post537 Newspapers see the need for online features – Dig My City Forums

[...] Newspapers see the need for online features A recent report from The Bivings Group indicates that more newspaper websites are drawing readers from the "extras" they offer – blogs, story comments, video and RSS feeds – than from the simple copy offered in print form. American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity? � The Bivings Report [...]
http://rockchucks.wordpress.com/2007/08/06/american-newspapers-and-the-internet/ American Newspapers and the Internet « Rockchucks – Incubation Innovator

[...] me in mind whenever she finds a relevant article, and sent me a link to an article entitled “American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?” It contains lots of interesting [...]
http://tumbo.wordpress.com/2007/08/07/links-for-2007-08-07/ links for 2007-08-07 « tilt!

[...] American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity? » The Bivings Report (tags: Nuevos.Medios periodismo investigacion.USACH) [...]
http://www.myadventuretraveltours.com Daniel

I couldn’t understand some parts of this article o.us poetry, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
http://www.wildblueskies.com/2007/08/07/when-newspapers-go-online/ WildBlueSkies » When newspapers go online

[...] recent study of America’s top 100 newspaper websites, entitled “American Newspapers and the Internet; Threat or Opportunity?” by Bivings Research, revealed that using the Internet to expand a newspaper’s reach is [...]
http://info541.sim.vuw.ac.nz/blogs/blog/2007/08/08/american-newspapers-and-web-20/ The 541 diary » Blog Archive » (American) Newspapers and Web 2.0

[...] The Bivings Group (already mentioned in an earlier post, recently issued a study of America’s top 100 newspaper websites. It updated a previous study carried out in 2006, and looked at both the type of content available to readers, and also the services provided, such as reporter blogs, RSS feeds, and the ability for users to comment on articles. The full report is available for downloading, and a summary of the main finding is at American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?. [...]
http://www.rrwdatabasemarketing.blogspot.com Nancy Arter

This is an excellent article and study. And very compelling for all marketers who are trying to expand the reach with all of their clients. All industries need to take a look at how the newspaper industry has embraced Web 2.0. It’ll be interesting to track how this impacts their success as times goes on.
http://www.joethink.com/blog/2007/08/how-to-fight-googles-article-commenting-plan/ How to fight Google’s article commenting plan : Joe Think » Online News Blog Archive

[...] at local papers for a while. This would probably affect mid- and large-market newspapers the most (according to the Bivings Report, only one-third of the top 100 newspaper web sites allow comments on…). Here are some possible effects of Google’s [...]
http://www.internalmi6.com/open-those-gates-already.html Open Those Gates Already – internalmi6.com – technology news xbox 360 ps3 software hardware unix windows

[...] requiring sign-ups to access all content freely and three requiring paid subscriptions (see recent Bivings study). Unfortunately, these gates typically prevent search engines from finding news [...]
http://www.freewebcounterstats.com/news/2007/08/13/open-those-gates-already/ » Open Those Gates Already

[...] requiring sign-ups to access all content freely and three requiring paid subscriptions (see recent Bivings study). Unfortunately, these gates typically prevent search engines from finding news [...]
http://www.bivingsreport.com/2007/top-10-best-newspaper-websites/ Top 10 Best newspaper Websites » The Bivings Report

[...] a follow-up to our research on newspaper websites that we published recently, we decided to break out a list of the best examples of “good” newspaper websites. [...]
http://newsvideographer.com/2007/08/15/wednesday-8-15-links/ Wednesday 8-15 links | News Videographer

[...] of America’s top 100 papers now offer video on their websites and more stats from the most recent Bivings analysis. Link via Will [...]
http://denverbloggers.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/article-about-how-newspapers-are-using-new-web-technologies/ Article About How Newspapers Are Using New Web Technologies « Denver Blogging and New Media Group

[...] can read a quick summary of the findings, or read the full report (this is a PDF [...]
http://espenwaldal.no/blog/?p=22 Weekend-reading : Testsite

[...] from the Bivings Group: American Newspapers and the Internet; Threat or Opportunity? The team behind the report feels that “the Internet presents newspapers with a unique [...]
http://www.fob-marketing.de/marketing-blog-483-newspaper-top-list-2007-top-10-der-amerikanischen-online-zeitungen.html Newspaper Top List 2007 + Top 10 der amerikanischen Online-Zeitungen : fob marketing

[...] Dies ist ein Auszug aus einer weiteren Studie von theBivingsreport. [...]
http://www.bivingsreport.com/2007/the-best-newspaper-websites-response-roundup/ The Best Newspaper Websites: Response Roundup » The Bivings Report

[...] Top 10 Best Newspaper Websites 2007 Newspaper Study [...]
http://www.contentcantina.nl/2007/08/26/nieuwe-personalisatie-features-nytimes-maken-geen-indruk/ » Nieuwe personalisatie-features NYTimes maken geen indruk – 26-08-2007 – Content Cantina

[...] een recent onderzoek van de Bivings Groep blijkt dat al heel veel Amerikaanse krantensites in de VS rss-feeds, video en blogs aanbieden. Het [...]
http://www.aweekinthelifeofaredhead.com A Week In The Life of A Redhead

This is interesting, but I am wondering why some newspapers are allowing Craigslist and other community boards to take away their classified revenue. I think the need to raise stock value over putting money back into many newspapers has lead to the decline (in part). I can’t figure out why a newspaper doesn’t utilize its website for local classified listings.
http://www.bivingsreport.com/2007/washington-post-local-blog-directory/ Washington Post Local Blog Directory » The Bivings Report

[...] our newspaper study, we mention "complementing print online" quite a bit. The Washington Post has done this [...]
http://www.bivingsreport.com/2007/the-guardian-wants-a-tag-editor/ The Guardian Wants a Tag Editor » The Bivings Report

[...] made me think of our newspaper study this year. Of the top 100 American newspaper, as ranked by circulation, only one — The [...]
http://www.bivingsreport.com/2007/iht-shares-thoughts-on-visitor-comments/ IHT Shares Thoughts on Visitor Comments » The Bivings Report

[...] thoughts about comment sections on news sites – a topic that we cover in our newspaper study. In his post titled "How are visitors using comments?" he shares some of the [...]
http://comm334.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/paper-news-or-the-internet/ Paper News or the Internet | Comm 334: Feature Writing Blog

[...] to use the internet to save their business and learning to adapt to it though. In a study done by The Bivings Group, companies are fighting their lost of circulation and readership but adding videos to their sites, [...]
Roman

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We are pleased to announce the launch of the Brick Factory, a Washington, DC-based digital agency founded by former employees of The Bivings Group. You can read the details of the transition here.

As a result of the change, The Bivings Report will no longer be updated, although we intend to keep it up for archival purposes. You can read the Brick Factory's new blog here.

American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?

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