Newspaper Web site traffic soared 31 percent during the first six months of 2006, according to a report issued last month by the Newspaper Association of America.

According to the NAA’s Fall 2006 Newspaper Audience Database report, newspaper Web sites averaged more than 55.5 million unique visitors a month during the first half of this year, a significant bump from the 42.4 million unique visitors in 2005.

The migration to electronic news also fueled a jump in the number of younger consumers accessing newspaper Web sites, NAA said, reflecting a 15 percent increase among those aged 25 to 34 and a 10 percent boost in those between 18 and 24.

NAA also unveiled a new interactive marketing tool designed to allow advertisers to generate their own reports on national and local newspaper print and online audience data. The tool, designed by Scarborough Research, also allows users to compare selected markets or newspapers across  a range of demographic segments.

On the print side, the report said more than 114 million adults in the top 50 markets read a newspaper over the course of a week.

Other findings:

*Two-thirds of 18- to 34-year olds in the top 50 markets read a paper during the course of a week.

*Nearly eight in 10, 77 percent, of 35- to 54-year-olds and 83 percent of those 55 and older read a newspaper in the past week.

*Page views for newspaper Web sites increased 52 percent during the first half of 2006, according to NAdbase.

*Some 35 percent of all Internet users visited a newspaper Web site in July 2006, a 27 percent increase from July 2005.

*Newspapers own 11 of the top 25 national news and information Web sites and locally, newspapers provide the dominant information site in most of the top 75 markets.