Broadband Users More Likely to Consume Online News

A recent Pew Internet & American Life report has several noteworthy findings about the relationship between broadband Internet usage and online news consumption.

According to the report, broadband users are far more likely to use the Internet as a primary news source. “High-powered” users – those who spend the most time online, do more activities online and were early adopters of broadband – are also the most likely to heavily use the Internet for news.

But these high-powered users don’t limit their news consumption to the web. Of this audience, 59% also get news from local television, 53% listen to local radio news and 52% are national television news viewers. Only 43% reported accessing news from their local newspaper. Users under the age of 36 appear to be the most avid consumers of online news. Non-traditional news sites – such as international media, news blogs and list servs – are also frequented more often by broadband users.

Many of these statistics are far from startling. It makes sense that “power users” tend to be news junkies and access a wider variety of news content. More significant, however, is the potential for traditional media to remain relevant. Their challenge is to accelerate their online presence and appeal to the most avid online news consumers.