Business Today

New research data confirms the strength of online newspapers compared with local-market competition and charts the rise of these sites as valuable advertising vehicles for area retailers.

Sites operated by newspapers attract the most visitors in 78 out of 85 local markets tracked by The Media Audit, a research product from Houston's International Demographics Inc.

The dominance in 92 percent of the markets tracked is tied directly to the size of the newspapers' reporting and editing staffs, which provides richer content than radio and TV competitors, and the experience of the online teams.

Newspapers, says The Media Audit, have been working harder at developing Web sites and building content than any other local media.

The Washington Post Co.'s washingtonpost.com reaches 40.2 percent of the adults in the D.C. metro area, the largest local reach of any newspaper site measured by The Media Audit.

On the surface, one might think TV sites should perform better based on the heavy saturation of Web site references made during local newscasts and through promotional commercials. But the inability for these stations to eat into newspapers' Web audience advances the argument that marketing messages induce sampling, but quality content leads to repeat visits.

The Media Audit's reports are based on interviews with 700 to 1,800 people, depending on the size of the market, conducted during 2002. In all, 122,000 interviews were conducted in all 85 markets.