The  Newspaper Association of America is out with its Fall 2006 Newspaper Audience Database and a boatload of data along with some boosterish language. (Web numbers from Nielsen/NetRatings; readership from Scarborough Research.) I’m taking the full report with on a plane this afternoon but here are a few of the findings via Reuters and a quick read:
—  An average of 55.5 million unique visitors went to U.S. newspaper sites in the first half of 2006, compared to 42.2 million in the same period last year.
—In what may be the cheeriest news for publishers, sites seem to be drawing younger readers, pushing the total 15-34 audience up by 15 percent and 18-24 by 10 percent.
—The number of page views—not my favorite stat but a gauge nonetheless—increased some 52 percent.
—  56 percent of users tend to visit a newspaper site at least once a day. 40 percent are under 35.
—  80 percent of online newspaper visitors mix between the web and print depending on convenience.
—  Favorite claim so far: Newspapers reach more 18-34 years old on an average weekday than an average half-hour of primetime TV, early TV news and an average 15 minutes of a.m. radio drive time.