Quality of Reading Survey Launched Today

The PPA, ISBA and IPA launched their joint magazine and newspaper supplements readership survey this morning. The Quality of Reading Survey (QRS) has been designed to give advertisers more detailed information on reader behaviour over the ‘life’ of a magazine or newspaper supplement.

The core of the QRS is a measure called Page Exposures (PEX). PEX data will allow advertisers to determine how many times the average page is viewed by the average reader over the publication’s life. This provides information on additional exposures, something which the industry has long acknowledged as important but hasn’t previously measured.

Multiplying the PEX by the publication’s readership gives a more accurate impression of page exposure, says QRS. The data is taken across different social grades as well as age groups. The survey also attempts to gather more qualitative information on readers’ relationships with titles by asking for responses to statements such as ‘you can believe what you read in it’ and ‘I expect to find lots to interest me’.

The survey, which has a sample of 7,531 adults (15+) and covers 240 titles, has found that consumer magazines’ pages are opened 2.4 times on average, compared with newspaper sections/supplements which are opened 1.2 times on average. Average reading time was found to be 54 minutes for consumer magazines, and 25 minutes for newspaper sections/supplements.

The information is currently available through the Telmar and IMS systems, and is due to be integrated into NRS tapes from 20 May to cover the January-December 1997 NRS period. The QRS is expected to be repeated every two or three years in order to keep it ‘fresh’.

PPA: 0171 404 4166 ISBA: 0171 499 7502 IPA: 0171 235 7020