An analysis of 97 leading consumer magazines revealed that over the last five years, 72 saw the median income of readers increase, with 47 of these increasing by $5,000 or more, and 18 increasing $10,000 or more.

Among the same 97 titles, 52 saw the median age of their readers increase by two years or more from 2002-2007.

[A classic good news/bad news scenario. At least the audience will go out with a bang! – Ed.]

This good news for newspapers comes alongside a new report on the total print and online “footprint” of newspapers, based on analysis of Scarborough data, which found that 77% of adults read a newspaper in print or online every week during the third quarter. The duration of online visits is also on the upswing, with users spending an average of 43 minutes per month on newspaper Web sites during the third quarter of 2007, versus 40 minutes in the same period last year.

The historic and current figures are all available in the Newspaper Audience Database or NAdbase report produced by the NAA, which contains other data detailing newspaper readership, including the following statistics: 85% of individuals from households with annual incomes over $100,000 read a newspaper in print or online each week; so do 84% of college graduates. Also, 82% of individuals who bought something online in the last year.

[A little good news for newspapers, at last. I think the most encouraging trends are in the demographics of people who read newspapers either in print or online. The value proposition is holding up – Ed.]

Here are a few reasons to still be (cautiously) optimistic about the future of newspapers. One is that an industry’s lack of appeal to public shareholders should not necessarily be confused with its viability or relevance. While most big newspapers may not be able to show the top-line growth that investors look for, they still churn out decent profits.

One senior newspaper industry honcho said that a popular scenario being bruited around the publishing world is this: core print newspaper revenues continue to fall at 5% per year; costs are held in check; revenue from Internet operations grow at 20%; and increasingly popular targeted magazines (think the New York Times’ T Style, the Wall Street Journal‘s planned weekend Pursuits magazine and Spice, a fashion monthly launched recently by Hearst’s Houston Chronicle) grow revenue at 15% or more. “At some point, those lines will cross” and newspaper profits will stabilize, this executive says, although he is also quick to point out that this year is worse than any publisher expected.

[A little good news for newspapers, at last. I think the most encouraging trends are in the demographics of people who read newspapers either in print or online. The value proposition is holding up – Ed.]