So, how many podcasts did you download today?

Six months ago, as The Daily Telegraph moved into gleaming new premises, talk was of whether integration of old and new media could work. For staff, changes including the replacement of the newsdesk with a "news hub", and deadlines with assorted "touchpoints" felt like a terrifying revolution. One correspondent jokes: "It was the biggest scare since the founder bowed out."That was in 1855, when Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Sleigh sold his fledgling Daily Telegraph and Courier because he could not pay the bills.

"My introduction to the Telegraph was a tour around an empty shell, and a vision from the then unknown Will Lewis," says Shaun Gregory, the director of new media at the Telegraph. "But it is already beginning to work. What was a newspaper three years ago is on the verge of becoming a complete multimedia company."

Lewis drove the new strategy, insisting that Telegraph readers want text in the morning, video at lunchtime and audio in the afternoon, and that they crave "click and carry" pdf documents for the commute home and blogs in the evening. He secured his own promotion from managing director (editorial) to editor. Journalists who survived a clear-out were retrained in multimedia techniques.

Lewis's logic is that Telegraph traditionalists misunderstand their readers. They are not Bufton-Tuftons, retired colonel types who cannot distinguish between a computer and a microwave oven, but rich and web-savvy. Telegraph journalists have not let their editor down. Today's multimedia online presence includes news, comment and analysis delivered as text, interactive blogs, audio podcasts, video and automated gadgetry.

On Budget day the service coped well. A podcast by Jeff Randall, editor at large, and Roger Bootle, economist at Deloitte, was online shortly after the Chancellor sat down. The website offered a personal wealth calculator that promised to work out the impact on individual readers. It went live at 4pm and worked out my fiscal fate at three minutes past. On Friday morning a video news report about the death of Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan cricket coach, was equally good.

"The mood among journalists is reasonably positive," says one Telegraph correspondent. "People like the layout of the new office and some of the writers really enjoy the opportunities multimedia gives us. But we are not sure how many people are engaging with it. "Figures reinforce the doubt. According to ABC Electronic (ABCe), the industry-backed measure of website audiences, Telegraph online ranks behind competitors, including The Guardian and The Times.

In January, ABCe figures The Guardian had daily averages of 825,393 unique users and 4,949,724 page impressions. Figures for the Telegraph were 394,637 and 2,295,954 respectively. Telegraph executives dispute the comparison - preferring to advertise figures compiled by the private Hitwise Company.

In January these encouraged the Telegraph to boast of being "the most visited UK quality newspaper website". An expert on internet audience measurement says: "The only defence for that claim is that there is freedom of speech in this country." The managing director of ABCe, Richard Foan says: "Our figures are industry used and approved." Scrutiny suggests ABCe is right.

At a time last week when blogs on The Guardian's website were attracting between 50 and 200 responses, those by Telegraph correspondents were attracting far fewer. "I have my doubts about the rush to newspaper blogging," says a leading website editor. "What is the difference between a short newspaper article and a blog post anyway? Judging by the number of comments on the Telegraph's blogs page, the answer appears to be not much."

The Telegraph correspondent is sanguine. "There is competition between us to get the most responses, but the numbers are not big. Seven online responses compared to 2.3 million daily readers of the printed product is not a lot. My understanding is that only a few hundred people read each blog." Another source reveals that the average response rate to a Telegraph blog is fewer than 10.

Such limited enthusiasm is reflected in correspondents' own attitudes. When I checked the blogs of home, foreign and specialist correspondents, some had not written online for a week. The New Delhi correspondent Peter Foster's account of a day spent watching a pod of Ganges River dolphins was charming, but it attracted just two responses in 24 hours. Motorcycling correspondent Kevin Ash's highly entertaining description of riding a Kawasaki Z1000 attracted nine. Gregory acknowledges that success in new media needs flexibility. "We measure things - and if we are not getting an audience or a return - we stop. We are not in this for vanity."

A leading website editor says the sheer range of the Telegraph's online offerings implies continuing uncertainty. "Will Lewis began with the artificial notion that certain content is suitable at certain times of day. It is basically nonsense. The first lesson of web publishing is that you should put content up when you have it and allow users to decide."

The same source is sceptical about the Telegraph's heavy focus on pod and video-casting. "There is a thirst for podcasts across the industry, but they are labour-intensive and faddy. A minority work exceptionally well - Ricky Gervais' podcast at The Guardian, for example - but few come anywhere near that level of popularity." Telegraph assistant editor Andrew Pierce podcasting on Lord Turnbull's "Stalinist" jibe against Gordon Brown was lucid and amusing. Jeff Randall's attempt to create satire from an imagined email conversation between the Chancellor and Ed Balls was less compelling.

A website analyst says: "Telegraph podcasts have improved. They are focusing on analysis and they have achieved a more radio feel - but analysis is also very perishable and unlikely to have the long-term appeal necessary for big numbers." I sampled Telegraph online's RuckU, a rugby podcast featuring former stars Will Carling, Ieuan Evans and Zinzan Brooke. It was poorly focused. Gregory boasts that the total number of audio and video downloads are "well into six figures", but credible, audited figures are not available. A rival website editor says: "I'd be astonished if those figures are for audio."

Senior Telegraph executives are candid about the unpredictability of multimedia demand. "What traditional newspaper readers want online is a movable feast," says Telegraph digital editor Edward Roussel. "What they wanted six months ago is probably not what they want now or in six months' time. We make mistakes. Eighteen months ago audio was huge. But podcasting the news is not a natural fit. Even if you push it into analysis it remains a niche. Video is more natural. When you hear about a story like Bob Woolmer you want the press conference."

Roussel predicts future online demand will focus on written news and comment, video and user-participation. "Blogs are a curious area. They are diaries. They do not attract massive numbers. The big responses are to sharp argument in comment pieces. The thing that works best online is the written word. You can get ahead of yourself with interactivity."

There is grudging industry-wide acceptance that Lewis's team has designed a good website and packed it with technology that works. Video and podcasts play smoothly at the first click of the mouse. News coverage is updated promptly. "They are hitting one key demographic," says the editor of a competing website. "Advertisers appear to find the multimedia Telegraph attractive." Gregory says: "We are getting the numbers through and we are bringing the advertising community with us." The assertion is unverifiable.

It is already clear that Telegraph readers appreciate web coverage that emulates the content of a traditional newspaper. That is excellent news for newspapers in general, but it does not prove that rushing to embrace each new item of technology makes editorial or commercial sense. Waiting and watching has often been the astute response to revolutionary technology. Those who pioneer multimedia may not be the ones to do it best.

'The Daily Telegraph'

"In the Spy column this morning, we reported some of the bets being offered with regard to today's Budget speech. Ladbrokes offered 16-1 on Gordon Brown wearing a green tie, and on him using the word 'green' five times or more."

Number of responses: 2

'The Times'

"The Rev Richard Kirker is an Anglican deacon refused ordination to the priesthood because of his openly gay lifestyle. He was subjected to an impromptu exorcism by an African bishop at the last Lambeth Conference."

Number of responses: 39

'The Guardian'

"The frenzy for the much-touted Anya Hindmarch £5 'I'm not a plastic bag' bag was not entirely unexpected, as any diligent pupil of supply and demand economics could have told you."

Number of responses: 2

'The Independent'

"Many of the tours that started earlier this year are drawing to a close but there's still time to catch Russell Howard, Lucy Porter, Pam Ann and comic poet Luke Wright, reviews of whom are available via the main site's search engine."

Number of responses: 10

'Daily Mail'

"We should record the best joke of the day. This is Gordon Brown in an otherwise serious and effective interview on the Today programme this morning: 'I don't hold grudges against people at all'."

Number of responses: 1