WASHINGTON (AFP) — Struggling US newspaper publishers are painfully aware of it but a survey released on Friday found that the use of online classified advertisement sites such as Craigslist is soaring.
The number of Web-connected US adults who use online classified sites has more than doubled in the past four years, according to the survey by the Pew Research Center?s Internet and American Life Project.
Forty-five percent of Internet users surveyed said they have used online classified sites, compared with 22 percent of online adults who had done so in 2005, Pew said.
It said that on any given day, nine percent of US Internet users visit online classified sites, up from four percent in 2005.
Pew said its findings "highlight the growing importance of such sites to Internet users and reflect the changes in the audience for classified ads -- both those who place them and those who make purchases."
It also noted that the rise of free online classifieds has stripped many US newspapers of a major source of revenue, exacerbating a crisis which has seen a number of dailies shut down or declare bankruptcy recently.
Pew said Internet users between the ages of 25 and 44 were significantly more likely than any other age group to use online classified ads.
Sixty-two percent of online 25 to 34 year olds surveyed said they used online classifieds.
Fifty-seven percent of those aged 35 to 44 said they did so while 49 percent of online 18 to 24 year olds said they used online classifieds.
Pew said 48 percent of 45 to 54 year olds said they used online classifieds while 35 percent of 55 to 64 year olds and 26 percent of Internet users 65 years old and older said they do so.
Pew said that classified sites averaged 53.8 million unique visitors in March 2009 with Craigslist alone receiving 42.2 million unique visitors.
The Pew survey of 1,687 Internet users was conducted between March 26 and April 19 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
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