Around half of newspaper readers rely only on print edition

Data from Pew Research Center and other sources show that around half of newspaper readers consume newspapers only in their printed form.

In our study of the local news environments in three markedly different U.S. metropolitan areas, nearly or about half of readers of the local daily paper in Denver (46%), Macon, Ga. (48%), and Sioux City, Iowa (53%) did not access the paper online. These findings are similar to the 56% of newspaper readers in a national survey who said their only contact with a newspaper was in print. The print edition also remains an important part of newspapers’ business model: More than three-quarters of their advertising revenue comes from print. Indeed, print newspaper readers tend to be news enthusiasts. They are more likely to often watch local TV news than those newspaper readers who access the paper online instead of or in addition to the print edition. And although print-only readers in the three cities studied are certainly older than their counterparts who access the paper online – in their mid-50s, compared with online newspaper readers, who were generally in their early to mid-40s – this difference persists even when controlling for age.

If print distribution becomes economically unfeasible, it remains to be seen whether this group will finally move to the online edition, or be content with getting their local news from TV, as they already do. Besides age, print-only readers stand out in some other ways.