Do We Spend Much Time Reading Newspapers? According To A New UK Study We Sure Do

And the readership trend seems to fit the mold that the larger the newspaper content, the longer the read. Thus the average reader to the UK’s multi-section serious quality broadsheet Sunday Times spent 102 minutes reading that newspaper whereas for its sister tabloid News of The World it is less than half at 45 minutes.

The UK’s National Reader Survey is a non-profit-making but commercial organization that the industry – publishers, advertisers, agencies – accept on an industry-wide basis as providing reliable estimates on a publication’s readership numbers, their demographics in terms of sex, age, where they live, and other such information. It uses interview methodology and its research is used in the planning, buying and selling of advertising space in print media.

This was the first time the survey reported on time reading print. “There has been for many years a mistaken assumption that all we are reading for is two minutes – a drive-by read, said Roger Pratt, the NRS managing director. “This data shows that this is absolutely not the case. People do spend considerable amounts of time of their day reading newspapers.”

This flies somewhat in the face of perceived wisdom that says with so many media channels now available that people don’t spend much time with print any more. “The time spent reading element to the survey reveals just how robust the print medium is. This first data set demonstrates that consumers are committing substantial time to print media despite increasingly busy lifestyles and the proliferation of media channels, “Pratt said.

ftm background

'Why Are Some Sports Stories Only Available Online? Why Have You Savaged The Financial Section? What Have You Done To The Weekly TV Book?' – All Typical Questions Bombarding Newspapers Whose Readers Don’t Like The Changes That Lower Margins Force
Newspaper readers have a tradition of not being shy in telling editors what they think about unwelcome changes to their daily read. But newspapers are becoming clean – telling their readers that, like it or not, it’s a matter of economics and they very much need to boost revenues. C’est la vie!

Here’s A Bold Idea For Newspapers Trying To Attract Back Young Readers (Mostly Unsuccessfully): Forget It And Concentrate On Your Core Readers 45 and Older
Newspapers have been trying whatever they can to attract back younger readers – special sections, something for the young on almost every page -- but at the end of the day those young readers are still slipping away to the Internet. So why not just throw in the towel and concentrate on those readers who really do want their daily newspaper read – those aged 45 and over.

Two Recent Projects Confirm What Newspapers Already Knew, But Haven’t Paid Enough Attention to: Catch Readers Young And They Stay With You For Life, and To Catch Them Young They Need To Find The Product Meaningful
Here’s a radical idea to capture the young print reader: provide content for teens, written by teens, that relates to teens. According to a new study if a newspaper does that not only will it attract young adults but it will keep them as they age.

The Buzz Word for Newspapers Talking to Advertisers is No Longer “Circulation”; It’s “Readership” With “Quality” Close Behind
With many major newspapers suffering large circulation declines over the past few years, but still increasing their advertising rates, it seems only natural they no longer want to talk about circulation. No, the spin now is that advertisers should factor in how many people actually read a newspaper and whether they are the “right” people.

How to Maintain Readership Loyalty
Many European newspapers continue to suffer circulation declines but there is one solid way of not only stopping the trend but reversing it, too.

ftm knowledge

Free Newspapers

The free newspaper phenomenon is rocking media landscapes across the world. This ftm Knowledge file looks at publishers and their battles in the UK, Europe and the US. Includes data on the successes and weaknesses. 65 pages PDF (August 2007)

Free to ftm Members, others from €39
Order

On average readers spent 40 minutes with their daily newspaper, 60 minutes with the Saturday paper which in the UK more and more resembles the multi-section Sunday newspapers, and the Sunday newspapers themselves are read an average 70 minutes. All with the same general rule, the more information a newspaper carries, the longer the read.

This all comes at an interesting time for the industry trying to figure out the proper resource relationship between print and digital. Many newspapers are diverting editorial resources to the online product but this survey shows that those who do still buy newspapers are willing to spend quite some time reading them, assuming it fulfills their needs. And that has to be something that advertisers will find important.

In the UK the time spent reading figures are significant because the latest ABC data shows that daily circulation has dropped 1.5% year-on-year and Sunday circulation has fallen 2.4%. But now in the face of those negative numbers publishers can emphasize a positive – those who are staying with newspapers really do read them quite thoroughly.

The survey didn’t deal with the readership time for free newspapers, although it doesn’t take too much to figure out that their time numbers must be quite a bit lower than the paid-fors, judging by the tons of free newspapers discarded on the streets and public transport every day. You don’t see many paid-fors in that trash pile. That point, also, should not be lost on advertisers.

Since this was the first UK study of its kind, there is no historical data to tell us if the time reading newspapers is growing or is in decline due to the Internet. For instance in the US the very respected Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) annual survey released in August said that newspaper usage will drop 4% this year over last.

And more ominous it said that the total time spend on media activities in 2006 was less than 2005 and most analysts take that to mean people are spending more time on the Internet and are getting quite sophisticated in finding the information they want and so less time is spent searching around.

Whatever, the UK numbers must be encouraging news for newspaper and magazine publishers everywhere, particularly those who are targeting weekend print readership – The Wall Street Journal’s Saturday edition and Time Magazine switching to a Friday print so the magazine is available Saturday are just two examples.

So print is not dead. Those who buy their newspapers give them a pretty thorough read. It’s now up to publishers to ensure they continue to produce a product worthy of that time.

Do We Spend Much Time Reading Newspapers? According To A New UK Study We Sure Do

One of the many questions about print that advertisers have always asked is whether people actually spend much time reading their favorite newspaper, or is it just a quick skim? According to a new UK readership study apparently we spend far more time reading newspapers than perception dictates.

Free Newspapers