Internet Growing As Main Source Of News Among Online Adults

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April 26, 2005 (9:01 PM EDT)

By TechWeb Technology News

The number of online adults who prefer the Internet as their main source of news has grown by over 35 percent in the last four years, at the expense of television and newspapers, a market research firm said Tuesday.

Currently, more than 26 percent of online adults prefer the Internet for national and international news, compared with 19 percent in 2001, JupiterResearch, a division of Jupitermedia Corp., said.

Consumer surveys also show that althought preferences grow for the Internet, the overall number of online adults using the medium for daily news has remained flat over the last few years, hovering around 50 percent, the research firm said. The number of online adults preferring to use the Internet for local news is also growing, but has yet to exceed 10 percent.

Driving the preference trend are young adults between the ages of 18 and 24. A third of this group prefers the Internet as their primary source of news, while 40 percent prefer TV and 10 percent newspapers.

"In the face of relatively flat usage, this increasing preference for the Internet is intriguing," JupiterResearch analyst David Card said in a statement. "While traditional media companies like The New York Times and CNN are doing very well online, our analysis shows that brands like AOL and Yahoo are increasingly important for online audiences."

JupiterResearch's analysis is based on surveys of more than 10,750 online adults over four years.