Contact: Eric Easter, 703.469.2763 (eric.easter@wpni.com)

(For Immediate Release)

washingtonpost.com, Nielsen/Netratings and Scarborough Study Shows Rapid Growth in Online News Consumption:
Users Fall Into Four Distinct Segments

Arlington VA, February 23, 2005 — A national segmentation study conducted by washingtonpost.com in partnership with Nielsen//NetRatings and Scarborough has found that a rapidly growing number of Americans are increasing their use of online sources for news and information at the expense of other media.

In the twelve months ending December 2004, 47% of respondents reported significantly increasing their usage of online media for news and information. A smaller number (4%) of those surveyed reported decreasing their usage of the internet for news during the same time period. In contrast, traditional media showed modest gains with radio at 16%, television at 18%, newspapers at 12% and magazines at 15%. However, similar declines were noted for each at -12%, -20%, -18% and -18%, respectively.

Users cited 24-hour availability, ability to multi-task while browsing, breaking news, easy ability to search and free access as the top reasons for preferring to get their news online.

The study also shows that online users of news and information can be grouped into separate behavioral segments based on their unique media choices.

From a national sample of users who went online for news within 90 days of the survey, the results revealed four distinct segments: Wired, Just the News Traditional, All the News Anywhere, and Disengaged.

The largest group, Wired, comprises 39% of online users and the group for whom the internet is essential for daily news and information. The group uses the internet as their primary source for news and information, spending an average of 24 hours per week online, more than 8 hours more than any other medium.

Beyond media habits, the segments also differ in news interests, psychographics and demographics. Just the News Traditionals consider print superior to other media, yet use the internet to supplement their news consumption. All The News Anywheres are defined by "information junkies" who use multiple sources for news on a daily basis.

The second largest group, Disengaged (34%), shows a lack of interest in hard news on any medium and primarily uses the internet as an entertainment resource.

"Proper segmentation of the user base has increased in importance as existing online users are spending more time online," according to Charles Buchwalter, VP Analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings. "Understanding the behaviors of the news and information audience is particularly important as online content is becoming one of online media's defining assets On the reasons for conducting the study, Caroline Little, CEO and Publisher of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, said " What the study shows is that marketers will have to reach beyond standard demographic measures and old ideas about media usage. The dynamics of habits, behavior and attitudes will be critical in creating a media mix that effectively reaches your target audience."

A multimedia presentation of methodology and full findings may be found at this link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/onlinenews

KEY FINDINGS

• About half of all online news users are still increasing their use of the Internet, even as this medium reaches saturation. The Wired segment has moved exclusively away from other media; however, the Internet is gaining at the expense of other media for all four segments.
• For these Internet users, more time is spent online in a given week than with any other medium. In prior research, we’ve always seen the Internet and TV in a close horse race; this year, the Internet has pulled ahead.

METHODOLOGY

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