With the popularity of online news websites increasing it seems the old favorite broad sheet may be ready for the techno dustbin. Australia’s leading news websites all recorded outstanding growth in the January to March (2007) quarter. Visitors to The Australian site increased by 56.2 per cent, The Age by 27.1 per cent and the Daily Telegraph took bragging rights with an increase of 77.9 per cent. These figures seem quite difficult to comprehend and one can’t help but ask if these numbers are equivalent to a paper purchase?

Facts and impressive figures make up most of the Online News 2007 Convergence report yet there is little discussion about the convergence of ‘news’. News it seems can be measured by hits and drawn on imaginable graph charts, however a graph chart representing the reasons these newspaper affiliated sites gained so many more viewers, may reveal that viewers expected a quality of news linked with the printed familiar.

There is no argument that online news is now “firmly part of the mainstream” as clicking is quicker than flicking, but will this formula for online news telling satisfy readers into quarters to come? I believe that online news deserves greater discussion and furthermore greater effort into its creation, just as the broad sheet – though incredibly impractical – has proven its formula to be a success.

This article revealed some interesting facts about online news and the effect, though maybe not the intent, left print feeling like the under-achiever. Aforementioned, I would be interested to see the ongoing statistics of online news ‘hits’ compared to newspaper purchases, and see if the market is growing or trading.