Submitted: The Two Sides Team March 13, 2013

Between social media, mobile and cable TV, sports news outlets have been proliferating — but newspapers are still the top source for sports news for sports fans. Among male sports fans ages 18-54, 76% cited the sports section of their local newspaper Web site as one of their “go-to” sources for sports news, while 69% cited the print edition.
March 8, 2013

by Erik Sass, via Media Daily News

Between social media, mobile and cable
TV, sports news outlets have been proliferating — but newspapers are
still the top source for sports news for sports fans. Among male sports
fans ages 18-54, 76% cited the sports section of
their local newspaper Web site as one of their “go-to” sources for
sports news, while 69% cited the print edition.

That compares with 66% for ESPN.com, 46% for league sites, 45%
for Yahoo Sports.com, and 45% for ESPN Sports Center. Further down the list, 33% said sports talk radio and 23% said Sports Illustrated or SI.com.

The
finds are from a survey by
M/A/R/C for the Newspaper National Network. The poll of 716 men ages
18-54, including in-depth interviews with 404, found that this key
audience demo prefers both print and online newspapers to any
other source for sports content.

Even more striking, men ages
18-54 who didn’t classify themselves as regular newspaper readers still
cited newspaper Web sites as their top source of
sports news.

Overall, 75% of non-regular readers cited newspaper
Web sites as a go-to source, compared to 71% for ESPN.com, 40% for
Yahoo Sports.com, and 38% for ESPN Sports Center. Sports
talk radio trailed at 27%, and Sports Illustrated and SI.com came in at 16% and 13% among non-regular readers.
 
Newspapers’
advantage was qualitative as well. Among
regular readers, 72% said sports content from newspapers was superior to
any other source, and 62% said they get news and analysis they can’t
find anywhere else. 

In addition, 88%
of regular readers said reading sports coverage in newspapers is
relaxing, and 79% said it’s an important part of their regular routine.
Interestingly, regular newspaper readers were also more
likely to characterize themselves as avid sports fans, with 72%
self-identifying this way, compared to just 45% of non-regular readers.
 
On
the advertising front, regular readers also
showed a propensity to respond to newspaper advertising. Among men ages
18-54 who read the newspaper regularly, 41% said they considered
purchasing an advertised product or service, 33% said they
visited an advertiser’s Web site, 25% visited a store or dealer for that
product or service, and 19% actually purchased the product or service.

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