According to the 2011 Media Audit Report surveys, newspaper websites continue to be the main players in local markets. Newspaper websites took 16 of the top 25 spots. Television websites, the biggest competitor to newspaper sites, took three of the top five spots and five of the top ten. The Salt Lake City’s Mormon Church owned TV station, KSL-TV (ksl-tv.com), placed as the top TV site and WRAL-TV (wral.com) in Raleigh NC took second.
The top newspaper site is Advance Publications’ AnnArbor.com. Hearst Newspapers’ sister company Hearst TV had the number four slot with WMUR.com. Fifth place was Gatehouse Newspaper’s Springfield, IL Register.
Of the top media markets, the Washington Post’s site WashingtonPost.com reaches the highest percentage (46%) of adults in the market.
It should be noted that The Media Audit president noticed that newspapers with strong print penetration had the healthiest websites.