Study: Young readers like more lifestyle stories, features

WASHINGTON (AP) - Newspapers can gain a wider audience among the young and minorities by paying more attention to their interest in lifestyle coverage, features and ads, according to a study. 

The study by the Readership Institute at Northwestern University was presented April 21 to a joint session of the annual conventions of the Newspaper Association of America and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. It said newspapers can't rely on the conventional wisdom that young adults will read more as they age, so it's important to deliver content that appeals to them. 

The study - sponsored by the NAA, the ASNE and the McCormick Tribune Foundation - found that readers over age 35 look for hard news, editorials, lifestyle stories, "my community" features and service articles. 

People 18 to 24 are attracted to lifestyle stories and features on such subjects as home, health, food, fashion, recreation and science. They're also interested in advertisements. 

"They tend to be selective in what they read, looking at less than half of the Sunday paper and less than one-third of the weekday paper," the institute said. 

The study explored ways newspapers can improve readership among 18- to 24-year-olds and among minority groups, where readership is declining slightly. 

Only one-third of young readers are heavy newspaper users, according to the study. They spend an average of 21 minutes each weekday reading the daily paper, and an average of 51 minutes on Sundays. 

Readers 25 and older average 36 minutes per weekday, 68 minutes on Sunday, the study said. 

Creating an improved readership experience requires "getting into the heads" of young, black, Asian and Hispanic readers to determine the most successful way to make, market and deliver a newspaper they feel has relevance for them, the institute said. 

The study found that newspapers provide a positive experience if they give readers something to talk about, have useful ads, include civic and personal interests and are seen as a good financial value. 

It's a negative experience if readers perceive the paper discriminates and stereotypes, covers too much or has too many long articles, the study said. 

Speaking at the meeting, John Lavine, director of the Readership Institute, said young adults and minorities are particularly drawn to stories so compelling or close to home they want to tell others what they read - a test that applies to readers of any variety. 

He gave some success stories, among them Gannett's alternative weekly Thrive in Boise, Idaho, which was planned for 32 pages but reached 64 thanks to strong ad sales; and the San Jose (Calif.) Viet Mercury, which is reaching 44 percent of Vietnamese adults in its area, four times the nearest competitors. 

Tribune Co. also publishes a youth-oriented tabloid in its home city of Chicago called RedEye, an offshoot of its flagship Chicago Tribune. RedEye has 280,000 daily readers. 

Renee Hampton, publisher of The Saginaw (Mich.) News, said the newspaper industry ought to pay attention to the institute's recommendations on how to attract young readers. 

"We have to have a conversation with young people," she said. "Instead of us talking, we have to listen." 

Jim Moroney, publisher of The Dallas Morning News, also noted the importance of not letting young people fall between the cracks. He said many of them are not devoid of news, but they're just getting it from other sources - online, on television. 

"It's critically important because there's a larger and larger group of people each decade who are not reading the paper," he said. 

The New Readers Survey heard from 10,800 readers of 52 daily papers. Surveys also were given to 6,600 newspaper employees. Some 33,000 stories, 12,000 ads and 21,000 in-paper promotions were analyzed.