Visitors to U.S. newspapers blogs has tripled since last year. Part of the reason is that the number of blogs has increased, yet some numbers don’t lie: 13% of overall Web traffic to top U.S. newspaper websites went to blogs – 3.8 million unique visitors.

Coupled with a 9% increase in visits to newspaper websites, from December 2005 to December 2006, blogs have provided a concrete boost to newspaper websites’ stamina.

"As Web 2.0 becomes a predominant online consumer model, traditional publishers are adopting interactive forums like blogs," said Carolyn Creekmore, senior director of media analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings.

"It makes perfect sense for online newspapers, where responding to a blog posting is like writing an instant letter to the editor."

So whether or not you’re a fan of blogs, they have become an essential asset for any newspaper’s online edition. It's unlikely that newspaper blogs continue to grow at this rate in 2007, as most major newspapers already include a wide range of them. Instead the trend could be to the in-depth development of popular blogs, which will attract an even bigger share of readers interested in blogs to newspaper websites.

NYTimes.com led U.S. newspaper websites with 13.2 million unique visitors, followed by USAToday.com, 9.1 million, and Washingtonpost.com, 7.6 million.

The report found wide gender differences, as 60% of newspaper website visitors are men, and 66% of newspaper blog visitors are men. This means that newspapers should both continue to play into their mostly-male audience, while also reinforce efforts to attract female readers.

Here are some numbers on newspaper blogs, as reported by Market Watch’s Frank Barnako:

Here are the most popular online newspaper blogs and their estimated December audiences:

    * USATODAY.com blogs, 1.239 million
    * The New York Times' blogs, 1.173 million
    * SFGate blogs, 515,000
    * Washingtonpost.com blogs, 433,000
    * Boston.com blogs, 388,000.

More details on the report through the links.

Source: Market Watch – Reuters blogs – Market Wire