Is a Newspaper's Companion Website a Competing Outlet Channel for the Print Version?

This paper uses Granger non{causality tests to analyze if channel competition exists between the companion websites of 93 German newspapers observed between I/1998 and II/2005. It provides econometric evidence for significant negative effects of companion website traffic on the print circulation of national newspapers and for significantly positive effects on local newspapers, at least for the period since I/2002.

Kaiser, Ulrich (2005), Is a Newspaper's Companion Website a Competing Outlet Channel for the Print Version?, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 05-78, Mannheim.