2005 Annual Report - Online Audience

How many of those people online go there for news? The answer, too, varies depending on how the question is asked, but the data suggest an online news environment that is showing only the slightest signs of growth.

As of June 2004, fully 72% of online users reported "ever" going online for news, up slightly from 70% in 2003, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.5

When respondents are probed further, about whether they went online for news yesterday or every day, the percentages drop to anywhere from 24% to 27%.6 Those numbers are also not increasing much.

Percent of Internet Users Who Access News Online

Percent accessing news online ever or yesterday, 2000 to 2004

Design Your Own Chart

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project tracking surveys

But when people are asked about frequent but less than daily consumption, things seem to be growing. The percentage of Americans who say they go online for news three or more times a week stood at 29%, according to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, up from 25% in 2002 and 23% in 2000.7

Some observers say such numbers may undercount online news consumption somewhat. People get news online from a variety of places they might not think of as news sites - from checking e-mail on Yahoo! to electronic newsletters to the various browser home pages used when logging on. Consider, for instance, the millions of people who every day look at MSN.com, AOL.com, Yahoo.com - those three portal homepages alone - and see news headlines. The users may not be going online to read news, but they get it. Using news as a feature to draw and keep users has long been a key element of portal strategy since it was developed by AOL and Yahoo with Reuters news in the early 1990s. Now other sites, even company and industry sites, are using customized news in this way.8

Observational research also suggests that surveys undercount consumption because people often cannot remember getting news or do it unawares.

When it comes to the Internet, another limitation of most survey research comes into play. Most surveys poll people 18 and over, missing younger teenagers. To assess the impact of the Internet and news it would be interesting to get statistics on this younger cohort as well.