Local News Traffic ‘Not Growing’

A report investigating traffic on the internet has revealed that many websites operated by local news organizations are not achieving online user growth.

The Harvard University study examined traffic to a variety of US-based news sites and found that most daily and weekly newspapers covering large, mid-size and small cities have seen a decline in visitors between April 2006 and April 2007.

By contrast, the research showed that so-called brand-name dailies with a national profile, such as USA Today and the New York Times, saw their online audiences increase during the same period.

Furthermore, the paper claimed that audience redistribution as a consequence of the internet poses the greatest risk to local newspapers as they will find it more difficult to maintain online readers in the future.

Among the problems noted are the issues of profitability regarding online readers compared with print customers and the fact that the Web has weakened the impact of geography in news source selection.

It is not all bad news for local providers though and the report outlined their advantages in the online news market, such as brand name leverage and established access to the audience.

“The greatest asset that the traditional media may have, however, is their product – the news,” stated the study, which is entitled Creative Destruction: An Exploratory Look at News on the Internet.

“It makes sense to believe that, when they [readers] choose the site of a news organization, they expect to see the news.”

The Harvard research team also asserted its “hunch” that local news sites could increase their traffic in the long term by including national and international stories to prevent people deserting them for brand-name websites.

The full report can be found on the Harvard University website.