According to a study conducted by the Readership Institute at Northwestern University, daily newspaper sites are failing to capture meaningful market share in the local markets. The results of the comprehensive survey, which looked at 100 markets around the U.S., show that 62% of respondents had never visited their local daily newspaper web site. A few more of the highlights include the following:

• Newspaper Web sites continue to have limited penetration in most communities.

• In general, people in smaller markets are less likely to have visited their newspaper’s
Web site than those in larger markets.

• People have a lukewarm response to newspaper Web sites on these qualitative
dimensions of engagement – they are not very engaged.

It’s just one more example (as if anyone needed more) of how badly the daily newspapers are struggling to find some way to deliver value to readers and/or advertisers in any meaningful fashion.