While a new report by The Media Audit indicates that U.S. adults have vastly increased their time spent online, this isn’t necessarily doom and gloom for newspaper publishers. The average adult in the United States, who spent 2.1 hours each day perusing Internet sites in 2006 has increased that online time to 3.8 hours. Even those considered heavy newspaper readers – i.e., more than one hour each day spent reading a print newspaper – averaged 3.7 hours
of online reading.

Evidently many of these folks are reading newspapers when they go to the Web, for the study also reveals that seven daily newspapers have achieved a net unduplicated reach of 80 percent or more. This figure is calculated by combining the Web visitor figure for the last 30 days with the print readership figure of the same time period. NOLA.com, the online home of New Orleans Times Picayune, topped the list with its 85.8 percent unduplicated reach. Other high-trafficked newspaper publications include San Antonio (TX) Express-News, Post Standard of Syracuse New York, Buffalo (NY) News, Rochester New York’s Democrat & Chronicle, Peoria Journal Star in Illinois, and the Omaha (NE) World Herald.