Top 15 Newspaper Websites: More Readers

The Nielsen web ratings for 2008 are in, and here are the most visited U.S. newspaper sites, as analyzed by Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab. (Note that the top-rated New York Times still has about half the visitors of non-newspaper news sites such as MSNBC, Yahoo! News, and CNN, according to Editor & Publisher.)

Here's the good news. Newspapers may be dying financially, but the number of people reading them online is increasing dramatically. (Click on image at right to zoom in.)

1. The New York Times
19,503,667 average monthly uniques
Increase of 33% from 2007

2. USA Today
10,845,000 average monthly uniques
Increase of 12% from 2007

3. The Washington Post
10,260,167 average monthly uniques
Increase of 19% from 2007

4. The Los Angeles Times
7,886,250 average monthly uniques
Increase of 54% from 2007

5. The Wall Street Journal
7,169,333 average monthly uniques
Increase of 60% from 2007

6. The Boston Globe
5,211,083 average monthly uniques
Increase of 22% from 2007

7. New York Post
4,335,583 average monthly uniques
Increase of 30% from 2007

8. Chicago Tribune
4,271,833 average monthly uniques
Increase of 34% from 2007

9. New York Daily News
4,226,083 average monthly uniques
Increase of 68% from 2007

10. San Francisco Chronicle
4,158,000 average monthly uniques
Increase of 10% from 2007

11. Newsday
3,163,000 average monthly uniques
Increase of 7% from 2007

12. Politico
3,113,000 average monthly uniques
Increase of 132% from 2007

13. Chicago Sun-Times
2,884,417 average monthly uniques
Increase of 26% from 2007

14. The Houston Chronicle
2,808,750 average monthly uniques
Decrease of 10% from 2007

15. The Dallas Morning News
2,647,500 average monthly uniques
Increase of 52% from 2007

We’re only looking at the websites of news organizations that also print a newspaper here, because they face a special challenge in transitioning from print to the web. And while it seems clear that increasing traffic alone won’t solve the business problems of newspapers, it’s all they’ve got right now. (Politico makes our list because it distributes a small-circulation print edition when Congress is in session.)

Also keep in mind that Nielsen’s web stats, like its television ratings, are frequently disputed estimates that may be more valid in relative terms such as comparing a site’s traffic to its competitors. Fortunately, that’s what we’re doing here. And finally, we’re looking at monthly unique visitors, which advertisers prefer, while ignoring time spent per visitor because that data is all over the place and difficult to compare.

Nieman Journalism Lab goes on to note:

The New York Times’ victory isn’t surprising, but its margin of victory is stunning. NYTimes.com garnered 8,658,667 more visitors per month than its closest newspaper competitor, USAToday.com, or a difference of 80%. In 2007, the Times led USA Today by 5,033,534 or 52%.

Also notable among the national newspaper sites were year-over-year traffic increases of 54% and 60% at The Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal, respectively. The Journal’s rise could vindicate Rupert Murdoch’s decision a year ago to keep charging for the newspaper’s website despite complaints that its paywall was hindering traffic.

Now we'd like to see some stats on videojournalism viewership. We can't help but wonder to what extent the New York Times' admirable commitment to excellent videojournalism has boosted its online ratings.