The State of Illinois Newspapers

Dennis DeRossettExecutive Director

Women in CommunicationsSeptember 14, 2011

‘Congress shall make no law

respecting an establishment of

religion, or prohibiting the free

exercise thereof; or abridging the

freedom of speech, or of the press; or

the right of the people peaceably to

assemble, and to petition the

Government for a redress of

grievances.’

The First Amendment

The State of Illinois Newspapers

Dennis DeRossettExecutive Director

Women in CommunicationsSeptember 14, 2011

1930s

1950s 1960s 1980s 1990s

2000s

IllinoisStatewide

SurveyOf Household Adults 2011

Conducted by Newton Marketing & Research, Norman, OK

Survey period: March 23 through May 11, 2011

Surv

ey

Meth

odolo

gy

• 1200 completed interviews

with adults, 18 years or older

• Randomly selected telephone interviews

• Every county in Illinois included

• Margin of error, +/- 3.0% at

95% confidence level

New

spaper

Readers

hip

73.6 percent

of Illinois adults

read an Illinois

newspaper

each week

New

spaper

Readers

hip

Each newspaper

averages

1.9 readers

per copyA National Newspaper Association

survey last year showed that each newspaper copy is shared

with 3.34 people

New

spaper

Readers

hip

Each reader spends an

average of 37.5 minutes with

each newspaper

issue(According to a survey by the

National Newspaper Association)

Readers

hip

by

age

Age groups% reading local

newspaper• 18-24

41.4• 25-34

43.8• 35-44

55.2• 45-54

61.6• 55-64

74.2• 65-74

75.7• 75+

82.5

(7.1% no response)

Readership is high among all age groups

Readers

hip

by inco

me

Readership is high among all incomes

% readingHousehold income local newspaper

• Under $25,000 64.6• $25 - 49,999 68.9• $50 - 74,999 68.9• $75 - $100,000 74.3• Over $100,000 66.2• No response 65.6

New

spaper

Readers

hip

13.2 percent of adults, who

do not read a print-version of

a newspaper, read an Illinois newspaper website at least

once a month

Cir

cula

tion

Daily newspapers:• 82.6% subscribe

• 10.7% purchase from a rack/store

• 5.6% pass-along/work

• Issues read per week = 6.0

Weekly newspapers• 71.3% subscribe

• 16.7% purchase from a rack/store

• 10.3% pass-along/work

• Issues read per month = weekly-3.6/biweekly- 6.9

Cir

cula

tion

Pri

nt

and w

eb

readers

hip • 38.1% of Illinois adults

have visited a newspaper website for news or

information within the past 30 days

• 13.2% of exclusive readers visit a local or

area newspaper website at least once each month

Pri

nt

& W

eb

Readers

hip

Media

Usa

ge

% of adults making purchase

in past 2 weeks

From newspaper ad 29.3

Over the Internet 27.3

From a free publication 20.5

From TV ad or shopping program 9.3

From direct mail 9.2

From a radio commercial 3.8

Illinoisans say they turn to their local

newspaper before they make many major

purchases …

Purchasing

Item % buying % reading local newspaper

New home appliance 28.165.3

New home furniture 25.974.3

New/used auto or pickup 23.171.0

New TV/entertain equip. 19.270.1

New mower/yard tractor 8.269.7

Refinance home 5.8 7.1

Camper/rec. vehicle 1.982.6

And, newspaper readers are more likely to make major purchases …

Voti

ng

77.8% of Illinois households had at least one member vote in a recent

election

72.0% of these adultsread a local newspaper!

Voters are newspaper readers …

Voting51% of Illinois voters

read political

advertisements in their

local newspaper!

42% of voters first look to a newspaper for news about local government and political

issues

41% of voters have accessed a newspaper website within the past 30 days

In fact, more people read their Sunday newspaper

than watch the Super

Bowl

Sources: New York Times, Feb. 8, 2010;Scarborough USA 2010 Release (Feb. 2009-March 2010)

Last year, a record 106.5 million people watched the Super Bowl. That’s more than any other television program in the history of television.

But that’s still not as many people that read a Sunday newspaper every single week! The average Sunday audience in 2010 was 108 million people.

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

Thomas Jefferson

Thank You!