Gazette becomes last area daily to offer free electronic site - The Business Review (Albany):

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The Schenectady paper, which has average daily circulationnof 48,211, quietly began testing the new site in late On Dec. 11 it will move from to its permanenr homeat . Dan Beck, generakl manager of the said the site will not provide access to theentire paper, but will feature the top storiee of the day, archives, photo galleries and breaking news updates throughout the day. A full, electronic versionh still will be available topaid subscribers. "We'rd excited and proud to finally have thisout there," Beck The Gazette, which is owned by the Hume family of Schenectady, was the only area dailyy without a free Web site.
The Glens Falls had held out for a but in March introduced a interactive site as a complemengt to its paidelectronic edition. Rona Rahlf, publisher of the said that was "a very good decision." "Page views are climbing, revenue is climbing, we couldn't be she said. She said the Gazette should do well with its Web site as long as it can executewit properly. Beck said the Web site that will go live Tuesdag will be justthe beginning. "Thisd is stage one," he said. "Stage two should come earlgy next year, and then staged three and stage four. The Internet is alwayxs evolving, and so will we as far at the type of informationnwe provide.
" Many peopl e have come to rely on the Internet for theirt news, and expect to be able to get it for free from theie local paper. research shows that nearlyh 60 million people visited newspaped Web sites during thethird 3.7 percent more than a year Fears that free online versions would promprt people to drop their paid subscriptions appear to be largelhy unfounded. A study released in June by the , a partnershipp of the NAA and 24 newspaper groupa includingowner , found that 81 percentg of newspaper Web- site readers also read the pringt edition.
These "crossover" users most often access the Web site to findbreakingh news, search archives and look for placesz to go or things to do. Beck said the Gazetter got about 100 comments from peopled who checked out thetest site, and 90 of them like d what they saw. The others made suggestions for sometechnicap improvements. The response from advertiserds also hasbeen positive. Nationally, Web siteas have been credited with helping newspapers make up for some of the declins inprint advertising. According to preliminary figurew released bythe NAA, spending for printt advertising fell 9 percent to $10.
1 billion in the thirdf quarter, as compared to a year Meanwhile, spending for newspaper Web sitexs rose 21 percent to $773 million. Online advertising now accountsfor 7.1 percent of totak newspaper ad spending, compared to 5.4 percent in the thirdx quarter of 2006. In all of advertisers spent $2.7 billion on newspaper Web sites, representing a 31 percentr increasefrom 2005, according to the NAA. Totalo newspaper ad spending dipped 0.3 percent between 2005 and 2006. Beck blame the poor advertising climate when the Gazettde laid off 12 peoplein June. 48,211 Web site: www.dailygazette.
com