As in other countries, the Norwegian internet world is buzzing with acquisition plans, launching of new news sites and what looks like a desperate scramble for “traffic”. Lots of healthy activity going on, then? That’s maybe too rosy. According to a study by Sigurd Høst, in 2005 only 75 out of 182 Norwegian newspapers with news websites updated their sites more often than once every 24 hours.

That the slow newspapers should hurry is evident from today’s new media barometer from Statistics Norway. Internet use surged in 2005 because of rapid adoption of broadband. 55 percent of Norwegians are online every day, up from 44 percent in 2004.

In 2005, 54 percent of users read news on an average day. That’s up from 41 percent in 2001, so the news audience is growing. 30 percent now get news from other sources than the online versions of printed newspapers.