Newspaper Still Consumers First Choice

With more media choices than ever, it's no wonder that newspapers' position as the sole provider of news and consumer information is changing. What hasn't changed is the fact that newspaper are the number one reach vehicle into the vast majority of markets across the U.S. The chart chart below tells you all you need to know about the strength of newspapers in their local markets when compared to radio and television.

What about other media? In the past 11 years, Pew Research indicates that the percent of adults who report regularly watching the local evening news has declined by 25%.

Many outside factors have contributed to TV's precipitous decline including changing commuting habits meaning that people arrive home later and an increasing availability of alternative new sources, although network television doesn't feel compelled to speculate on air about whether they're a dying medium.

MRI indicates that nationally, 48% of adults in the nation read the average weekday newspaper and on Sunday it climbs to 58%.

When we compare the reach of newspapers to the reach of the adult population for other media, we can see that evening news television pales in comparison at 33% and radio is only at 35% during morning drive time.

Nearly half the adult population in the US picked up the daily newspaper today - the ability of any single media to amass that large an audience in such a short period of time is unrivaled.

Source: MRI, 2005