Metrics 2.0: 50 million Americans turn to the internet for news on a typical day

Some 50 million Americans turn to the internet for news on a typical day, a new highwater mark for online news-gathering that coincides with rapid growth of broadband adoption in American homes, according to Pew Internet & American Life project report.
Over the last four years, overall internet penetration rose from 58% of all adult Americans to 70%, and home broadband penetration grew from 20 million people (or 10% of adult Americans) to 74 million people (37% of adult Americans).

$613 million
Advertising revenue for newspaper Web sites in US and Canada in 1Q 2006. (Newspaper Association of America)

When asked in a December 2005 survey of 3,011 Americans if they turn to any of six possible sources of news on a typical day, respondents told us the following about their news consuming habits:

Where People Got News "Yesterday"
	All respondents	Non-internet users	Dial-up users	Broadband users
Local TV	59%	57%	65%	57%
National TV	47	43	50	49
Radio	44	34	52	49
Local paper	38	37	41	38
Internet	23	--	26	43
National paper	12	8	12	17
Source: Pew Internet Project December 2005 survey.

Traditional media organizations dominate online news sources.When asked where they go online for news:

46% of all internet users say they go to the website of a national TV news organization such as CNN or MSNBC.
39% go to portal websites such as Yahoo or Google; the figure is 44% for broadband users.
32% go to websites of a local daily paper.
31% go to the website of a local TV news station.
20% say they go to a website of a national daily newspaper.

Business & Market Intelligence

50 million Americans turn to the internet for news on a typical day