Magazine sites see U.S. audience grow faster than web itself

Magazine websites are growing in audience faster than newspapers and faster than the web as a whole, according to Neilsen Online research released by Magazine Publishers of America (MPA).

The top 320 magazine Web sites received on average 67.5 million unique visitors per month during the fourth quarter of 2007--an 8.1% jump from the same period in 2006. (The total U.S. population online -- 160 million in the last quarter -- increased 2.4% last year.) Similar information on Canadian magazine websites is not available.

These figures mean that magazine web sites reached almost 42% of the total U.S. online population of about 160 million in the fourth quarter, an increase of 7.1% over last year's reach.

These users generated 434.4 million visits in the fourth quarter--up 12.3%, while time spent increased 5.5% to an average 1.78 billion minutes per month, implying an average visit duration of just over four minutes.

In terms of unique visitors per month, magazine web sites bested newspapers, where the total unique audience for newspaper Web sites increased 9% in the fourth quarter to an average 62.8 million per month.

“These figures illustrate the growing prominence of magazine brands online,” said Nina Link, president and CEO of the MPA. “Magazines have long been masters at attracting consumers to their print pages, and now they are doing the same for the web audience, creating branded digital experiences through compelling content, innovative applications and robust communities.”

She added, “It’s important to note that the surge in online traffic to magazine websites is taking place while readership of the core print brand has grown over the last several years.”