Survey shows The Post-Standard and Syracuse.com have second-highest readership in nation

Readership of The Post-Standard and Syracuse.com ranks second-highest in the nation, reaching more than 83 percent of Central New York adults, according to a national survey.

Syracuse, NY -- Readership of The Post-Standard and Syracuse.com ranks second-highest in the nation, reaching more than 83 percent of Central New York adults, according to a national survey.

By itself, Syracuse.com is third in the nation in market penetration, the survey showed. The website reached more than 49 percent of adults. The newspaper and website are both properties of Advance Publications, owned by the Newhouse family.

The market studies, conducted by The Media Audit, of Texas, were based locally on a telephone survey of 700 adults — age 18 and older — in Onondaga, Oswego and Madison counties in 2009-10, said President Bob Jordan. Nationally, the survey covered 88 metro areas.

Stephen A. Rogers, editor and publisher of The Post-Standard, attributed high readership to the resources invested in Syracuse.com, with video, photos and graphics added throughout the day.

“I really think that, first, we have an emphasis on breaking news,” Rogers said. “We want to be the first on any breaking news story in Central New York, and we usually are. The knowledge is sweeping the community: If you want to get the news first, go immediately to Syracuse.com.”

While Syracuse.com has the latest news, readers turn to The Post-Standard for the best, in-depth stories about Central New York, Rogers said.

Advertisers also benefit, said William Allison, advertising director for The Post-Standard.

"The combination of The Post-Standard and syracuse.com allows us to offer advertisers a larger audience than any other advertising option in Central New York," he said.

Including Syracuse, four of the top 10 cities in combined newspaper and website audiences are owned by Advance. The only city ahead of Syracuse was New Orleans, home of The Times-Picayune and its affiliate, Nola.com. Grand Rapids, Mich., and Birmingham, Ala., were ranked seventh and 10th, respectively.

“Newspapers like the New Orleans Times-Picayune, The Post-Standard in Syracuse, The Grand Rapids Press and the Birmingham News are some of the strongest newspapers in the nation in the reach in their markets and they also have the strongest websites,” Jordan said. “This shows how important the newspaper can be in helping build website interest and traffic.”

Jordan also noted the continuing rise in newspaper website traffic.

“Year by year we can see newspaper websites are getting stronger and stronger,” he said. “The reach of many of the top websites shows that the web continues to be a great opportunity for newspapers. There are now many newspaper websites that have a greater reach in their market than other newspapers have in reach of their market.”

The Post-Standard reached 367,466 readers, while Syracuse.com drew 245,268 visitors, the survey found. Combined, they reached 413,958 people, when duplicate readers were removed.

Among websites, only Nola.com and AnnArbor.com reached a higher percentage of adults in their markets than Syracuse.com.

By comparison, TimesUnion.com, in Albany, was ranked 11th, DemocratandChronicle.com, in Rochester, ranked 20th and BuffaloNews/Buffalo.com ranked 30th in website audience penetration.

When counting the combined readership of newspapers and websites, Buffalo ranked third and Rochester ranked ninth. The Albany area has several daily newspapers, with the Times Union and its website ranking 36th.

The survey asked people if they read the newspaper or visited the website within the last month.