Campus newspaper readership has been measured in several different ways: recent reading, lifetime or ever-reading, issue frequency, time spent, website visits, and perceived importance. The available findings span April 1999, 2008, a 2016–2017 study period, and spring 2016, so the results describe specific surveys and campuses rather than a single current national estimate.
Contents
- Overall campus newspaper reach
- Recency and issue frequency
- Print reading depth and pass-along
- Digital campus newspaper readership
- Content preferences and perceived relevance
- Campus newspapers compared with other newspapers
Overall campus newspaper reach
The College Newspaper Audience Study, by Alloy Media + Marketing and MORI Research, reported that 76% of college students had read their campus publication during the previous 30 days in 2008. Looking across a longer 90-day window, the share was 82%. The difference between those two measures shows why a readership statistic needs a defined recall period: a 30-day audience and a 90-day audience are not interchangeable.
The same 2008 study found especially high recent reach at campuses with Monday-to-Friday daily newspapers. There, 92% of students had read the paper in the previous 30 days. In that setting, 85% had read it in the previous 14 days and 79% had read it in the previous seven days. These figures refer specifically to students at daily-newspaper campuses, not to all colleges.
Other surveys used different definitions and populations:
- In a survey at one Midwestern university in April 1999, 93.8% of students said they had ever read their campus student newspaper, according to Internet Use and Media Preferences of College Students.
- In the spring 2016 College Student Media Consumption Survey, 60% of student respondents reported engaging with college newspapers.
- At one Southwestern university during the 2016–2017 study period, 52% of respondents reported reading the independent student newspaper in print or online, according to the College Newspaper Audience Study.
- At the Midwestern university in April 1999, 73% of respondents were classified as daily newspaper readers based on their reported newspaper use.
These results cannot be combined into one trend line. “Ever read,” “read in the previous 30 days,” “engaged,” and “read in print or online” measure different forms of reach. They nevertheless show that campus publications could reach a substantial share of students in the specific settings studied.
Recency and issue frequency
The 2008 audience study offers several ways to describe how recently students interacted with a campus paper. Overall, 55% of college students had read an issue during the previous week. Thirty percent said they read every issue of their college newspaper. Looking at the previous five issues, 80% of campus-newspaper readers had read at least one, and students had read 2.8 of those five issues on average.
The spring 2016 survey also measured recent print use. It reported that 53% of students had read their college newspaper’s print edition during the previous seven days, while 64% had read a print edition during the previous 14 days. In the same survey, 56% had read at least three of the previous five print editions.
The April 1999 Midwestern university survey separated daily, recurring, and occasional campus-newspaper use. It found that 43.6% of students read the campus newspaper daily, 36.1% read it a couple of times each week, and 17% read it occasionally. Because these percentages come from one university and an older measurement period, they should be read as campus-specific findings rather than a general estimate for all students.
| Readership measure | Result | Measurement period and population |
|---|---|---|
| Read in previous 30 days | 76% | College students, 2008 |
| Read in previous seven days | 55% | College students, 2008 |
| Read every issue | 30% | College students, 2008 |
| Read previous seven-day print edition | 53% | Student respondents, spring 2016 |
| Read at least three of previous five print editions | 56% | Student respondents, spring 2016 |
| Read campus paper daily | 43.6% | One Midwestern university, April 1999 |
The frequency measures point to a layered audience. Some students read every issue or read daily, while others enter the audience less often. A publication’s recent reach can therefore be larger than its regular or every-issue readership.
Print reading depth and pass-along
Readership is not only a question of whether a student picked up a paper. The 2008 audience study reported that each copy of a college newspaper was read by 3.2 students on average. Students spent more than 13 minutes with each campus newspaper issue on average.
Reading depth varied by behavior. Sixty-three percent of students who read the campus newspaper read through the entire issue. Those who read the entire paper spent 14.7 minutes with an issue on average. Another 37% read only selected sections, but even those students spent more than 10 minutes with each issue on average.
The spring 2016 survey measured time spent with print in broader thresholds. It found that 86% of student respondents spent more than five minutes reading each print issue. Nearly 28% spent more than 15 minutes per print issue. These measures use different survey periods and study designs from the 2008 findings, so they are best considered separate snapshots of print engagement.
Distribution locations also appeared in the 2008 audience study. Nearly 60% of students picked up the campus newspaper from on-campus racks, 56% picked it up from the student union, and 33% picked it up at their residence hall. The locations overlap as readership pathways: the figures describe reported pickup points, not mutually exclusive groups.
The combination of pass-along, time spent, and pickup locations suggests that a printed campus newspaper could be encountered in shared campus spaces and read by more than the person who initially collected a copy. The statistics do not establish a causal reason for that behavior, but they quantify several distinct stages of print exposure.
Digital campus newspaper readership
Digital readership differs sharply across the measurement periods in the available studies. At the Midwestern university in April 1999, 18.5% of students had ever read the online version of their campus daily. Among those who had read it, 4.3% did so daily, 14.3% did so a couple of times each week, and 81.4% did so occasionally.
The spring 2016 survey reported more frequent website use among its student respondents. Seventy-two percent visited their college newspaper website at least once a week, and more than 37% visited daily. Among students who visited the website, 83% spent more than five minutes there per week. More than one-third of students who visited daily spent more than 15 minutes per session.
The two surveys should not be treated as a direct before-and-after comparison. The 1999 findings concern one Midwestern university and ask about the online version of its campus daily. The spring 2016 results concern student respondents and website visits. The wording, geography, technology environment, and measurement periods differ.
The April 1999 survey also examined other online newspapers. Eighty percent of students said they never read any online newspaper other than the campus paper. Among students who did read another online newspaper, 11.6% did so daily. These figures describe the Midwestern university’s respondents and should not be generalized to current student internet use.
Content preferences and perceived relevance
The 2008 audience study asked campus-newspaper readers what content they looked for. Campus news was selected by 90% of readers, making it the most widely reported choice in the supplied results. Entertainment information was selected by 69%, and sports by 50%. Among male campus-newspaper readers, 59% selected sports.
The spring 2016 survey identified campus news and opinion as the two content areas students cited as their favorites in the print newspaper. The supplied result names the two leading areas but does not provide a percentage for either one, so the comparison is qualitative rather than a ranked numerical split.
Perceived community value was also high in the 2008 study. Eighty-two percent of students rated their campus newspaper’s editorial content important or very important to the campus community. At universities enrolling 20,000 or more students, the corresponding share was 87%.
These results distinguish personal content selection from institutional relevance. A reader might look for campus news, entertainment, or sports, while a broader question asks whether the editorial content matters to the campus community. The available figures support both views without showing that one type of content causes the other.
Campus newspapers compared with other newspapers
The April 1999 Midwestern university survey provides a campus-level comparison with local, state, and national newspapers. Only 29% of students had ever read the local daily newspaper. Among students who had read it, 13.8% did so daily, 24.1% did so a couple of times each week, and 62% did so occasionally.
By comparison, 59% of students at that university read some other state newspaper, and 27.8% had ever read a national newspaper such as USA Today or The Wall Street Journal. The same survey reported that 73% of respondents were classified as daily newspaper readers based on their reported newspaper use, while 43.6% read the campus newspaper daily.
| Newspaper audience measure | Result | April 1999 Midwestern university |
|---|---|---|
| Ever read campus student newspaper | 93.8% | Campus publication |
| Ever read local daily | 29% | Local newspaper |
| Read some other state newspaper | 59% | State newspaper |
| Ever read a national newspaper | 27.8% | Examples included USA Today and The Wall Street Journal |
| Daily campus-newspaper reading | 43.6% | Campus publication |
| Daily reading among local-daily readers | 13.8% | Local newspaper |
The comparison is limited to the same university and the same April 1999 measurement period. It does not establish that campus newspapers generally outperform local, state, or national newspapers. It does show how the survey’s campus publication measures differed from its measures for other newspaper types.
Across the available research, the most consistent interpretation is that campus newspaper readership depends on the measure used. Recent reach, issue frequency, print time, pass-along, website visits, content interests, and perceived importance each describe a different part of student media behavior. Any campus readership estimate should therefore identify its population, geography, measurement date, format, and recall period.