Online Audience - 2006 Annual Report

Diversity Online

Bob Jordan, president of International Demographics, which produces the Media Audit report, explained trends in overall online use: “The first wave of Internet users was young and affluent but since that first wave, the Internet has become more inclusive. Advertisers can no longer assume that all Web site audiences are young and affluent. Many Web site audiences have begun to resemble the audiences of some traditional media: older and less affluent.”30

The diversity of online news consumers ha s grown with time as well, though regular consumers are most likely to be white, male, and highly educated.

Gender

Men are slightly more likely than women to say they have gone online for news at some time, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project — 75% of men and 69% of women.31 Data from Pew Internet show that men are nine percentage points higher in regular news use, which in this case is defined as those who went online for news “yesterday.”32 And research from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press finds that men are more likely to say they go online “every day” for news, which is another way to measure regular online news consumption. The gap seems to have shrunk a bit from 2004, though.1

Race and Ethnicity

Among online users, an equal number of whites, blacks and Hispanics say they have “ever” gone online for news. In 2005, 72% from each racial and ethnic group reported doing so, according to Pew Internet Project research.34

As with gender, there is a disparity when it comes to more frequent use. Research from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press indicates that whites are still considerably more likely to say they go online every day compared to Hispanics and blacks.35 Data from Pew Internet and American Life Project also suggest this is true but again, nonwhites have closed the gap.36

Education

College graduates are clearly the group over all with the most regular online news consumption. Nearly 46% of those with a college degree or more say they get news online every day. Pew Research Center data suggest a direct relationship between education and regular online use, with a particularly sharp drop-off among those without any college education. That pattern was also evident when we looked at general online newspaper consumption patterns.37

Income

We also looked at the relationship between household income and online news consumption. Again, it appeared income level played very little part in determining whether people reported ever going to an online newspaper site at one time or another, according to data from the Pew Research Center. But there was a significant difference again when regular us e was measured. W ealthier Americans were more likely to report regular online newspaper consumption than those from middle - class and low-income households.38