Users spending less time on newspaper sites

A great chart at SAI shows the difference in time spent on site from 2008 to 2009 for NYT, WSJ, WaPo and USA Today. WSJ's numbers have shown the most dramatic drop. Interesting. When I was at WSJ, the higher-ups used their clout with the IAB to consider replacing the Page View metric with Time Spent on Site. This was because their use of Ajax, while creating a better user experience, wasn't ticking up the Page View meter. This may come back to bite them, but ultimately, if advertisers want WSJ's premium demographic they'll pay to be there.