Row Threatening Over NRS Figures

A row is threatening to erupt over the latest batch of July-December NRS figures for the women’s weekly sector, with some magazine companies querying the Survey’s research methods.

Of particular concern is the quality of the research for young upper-class women in the weekly sector since most of the titles have shown a drop in the ABC1 profile year-on-year. What is also worrying publishers is that the ABC figures to be released on February 14 are very close to, and sometimes even more than, the new NRS figures.

Various agency and press sources told Newsline that the new figures were very “peculiar” and gave several reasons why they might have occurred. One theory is that the sector has gone so down-market that readers have switched to monthly titles and also that only the new titles are gaining upmarket readers. Another is that the NRS survey is at fault and it is “not trying hard enough to find upmarket young women” who would probably be found in nightclubs and bars.

The problem of research organisations finding young upmarket consumers was also highlighted yesterday, with news that Channel 4 had conducted its own viewing research which revealed that Barb figures sometimes underestimated audiences by as much as 50% (see yesterday’s Channel 4 Claims More Youth Viewers).

NRS was not available for comment at the time of going to press.