The Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle ranks No. 1 in local market adult penetration, according to a report from Scarborough Research.

The Scarborough Newspaper Penetration Report said the printed Democrat & Chronicle reached 79 percent of adults in the local market.

Together with its Web site the paper’s reach eclipses 81 percent on a weekly basis, the report said.

Measurements

Scarborough measures audience ratings for newspapers and their Web sites across 81 local markets. The February report covered market data collected from August 2006 to September 2007.

The report also found that Washingtonpost.com is the newspaper Web site with the greatest local penetration, reaching about 22 percent of adults in the Washington, D.C., market during a given week.

Gary Meo, Scarborough’s senior vice president of print and Internet services, praised both the Democrat & Chronicle and Post for their efforts.

“The Democrat & Chronicle has a long tradition of service to its community, and adults in Rochester rely on it for news and information,” he said. “Washingtonpost.com is considered one of the industry’s premier newspaper Web site and is clearly a much valued resource among D.C. adults.”

Following the Democrat & Chronicle were Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers in Green Bay, The Des Moines (Iowa) Register and The Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y.

In addition to weekly print and Web site audience information, the report features newspaper audience rankings for designated market areas measures daily and Sunday newspaper penetration data.

New life

Meantime, another Scarborough study reported that newspaper Web site audience is growing and is compensating for some of the declines in print readership.

Data collected from August 2004 to March 2007 for 88 newspapers in the top 50 local markets found that newspaper Web site audience coverage grew 14 percent.

“The Internet has injected new life into an industry that has been battling declining audiences for decades,” Meo said of the second study. “There is a new era of opportunity knocking at its door — one that did not exist previously.”

Overall, the increase in Web site audience is mitigating print audience losses by 28 percent, the report said.

The Scarborough analysis also found that newspaper Web sites targeting younger, more elusive audiences, particularly the 18-to-34-year-old demographic, increased 21 percent.