**Top 10 U.S. newspapers by average weekday readership in millions.**
*USA TODAY 7.1
*The Wall Street Journal: 5.1
*The New York Times: 5.0
*New York Daily News: 2.7
*Los Angeles Times: 2.4
*New York Post: 2.1
*Chicago Tribune:1.9
*The Washington Post: 1.8
*Newsday: 1.6
*Chicago Sun-Times: 1.3
Top 10 U.S. newspaper websites December 2005 unique audience in millions
(Percentage change from 2004)
*nytimes.com 11.0 ( 22%)
*USATODAY.com 9.9 ( 16%)
*washingtonpost.com 7.8 ( 53%)
*sfgate.com 4.1 ( 28%)
*latimes.com 4.1 ( 52%)
*nydailynews.com 3.3 ( 22%)
*chicagotribune.com 3.0 ( 99%)
*suntimes.com (Chi.) 2.6 ( 21%)
*newsday.com 2.6 ( 14%)
Sources: Newspaper Association of America; Nielsen/NetRatings
I find it kind of disturbing that USA Today, which I consider a bubblegum/comic book newspaper, has the highest readership. Personally I read CNN.com (which is bad enough as far as separating news from entertainment) and BBC news.
At least 7.1 million people are reading.
If you want to get incredibly in depth information about world events try reading the Atlantic.
USA Today has such a wide readership because of the very, very wide distribution. You can get it from virtually ANYWHERE in the U.S. It also appeals to mostly any region in America, even though the stories may be watered down versions of what a select group of people considers news.
And don’t underestimate the power of the spoerts page…Best in the country!
USA Today is also relentlessly readable. They spend huge amounts of money on design and reader studies that provide them with data about who reads them and what they want. So McPaper, and now its website, has a reading level of roughly 5th grade, loads of red/yellow heavy graphics, short blurbs and bullet points, and a 12-15 minute total reading time. The Daily News and the LA Times do it too, with a different editorial sensibility aimed at their readership. The one paper/site that isn’t there that I would have bet on is the Miami Herald. How did they not make the list when the Sun Time did?