Nielsen Online data, reported by the Editor & Publisher website, showed that 17 of the top 30 newspaper sites experienced a decline in the average time each user spent on their sites during May 2009 in comparison to the same month a year ago.
The average time spent on NYTimes.com dropped by over a minute from 28 minutes and 52 seconds in May 2008 to 27 minutes and 34 seconds in May 2009.
USAToday.com declined from an average of 13 minutes to 12 minutes and 11 seconds.
Washingtonpost.com suffered an even greater decline, dropping from an average of just over 16 minutes to just under 11 minutes.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which became an online-only newspaper in March, also experienced a considerable drop in the average time spent on its site, falling from 15 minutes 24 seconds to seven minutes 44 seconds.
Subscription-based The Wall Street Journal online remained fairly static, averaging eight minutes 27 seconds in May 2008 and eight minutes 54 seconds in May 2009.
A couple of websites managed dramatic increases in time spent on their sites.
The average time spent on The Star Tribune's site jumped to more than 47 minutes in May 2009, compared with 27 minutes in May 2008.
Similarly, the San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com almost doubled the amount of time spent on its site, from 12 minutes in May 2008 to 21 minutes in May this year.
Newspaper website -- May '09 (hour:minute:second) -- May '08
NYTimes.com -- 0:27:34 -- 0:28:52
USATODAY.com -- 0:12:11 -- 0:13:00
Washingtonpost.com -- 0:10:58 -- 0:16:04
LA Times -- 0:07:37 -- 0:07:13
Wall Street Journal Online -- 0:08:54 -- 0:08:27
Daily News Online Edition -- 0:05:47 -- 0:06:16
Chicago Tribune -- 0:09:13 -- 0:08:20
New York Post -- 0:10:57 -- 0:08:02
Boston.com -- 0:10:06 -- 0:09:40
Newsday -- 0:03:30 -- 0:03:35
SFGate.com/San Francisco Chronicle -- 0:21:00 -- 0:12:01
Politico -- 0:06:22 -- 0:10:21
NJ.com -- 0:02:28 -- 0:08:25
Chicago Sun-Times -- 0:05:47 -- 0:08:09
Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- 0:16:13 -- 0:11:11
Baltimore Sun -- 0:07:06 -- 0:06:51
DallasNews.com - The Dallas Morning News -- 0:04:43 -- 0:04:51
The Houston Chronicle -- 0:24:42 -- 0:21:43
Philly.com -- 0:04:46 -- 0:08:03
KansasCity.com -- 0:04:29 -- 0:08:20
The Washington Times -- 0:05:44 -- 0:05:14
Star Tribune -- 0:47:25 -- 0:27:18
MercuryNews.com -- 0:04:51 -- 0:05:08
tampabay.com -- 0:05:41 -- 0:07:59
The Seattle Times -- 0:07:17 -- 0:07:45
Orlando Sentinel -- 0:08:34 -- 0:07:38
MiamiHerald.com -- 0:02:38 -- 0:03:41
Seattle Post-Intelligencer -- 0:07:44 -- 0:15:24
Detroit Free Press -- 0:17:33 -- 0:12:48
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -- 0:12:23 -- 0:14:31
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