Telegraph To Suspend Sections Research

The Daily Telegraph is to suspend the publication of its sectional research until the National Readership Survey (NRS) has reached a decision regarding its own supplement study. The Telegraph Group issued a statement today stating that it would put on hold the publication of its research “to enable the positive discussions on NRS to continue unhindered”.

The Telegraph announced its intention to conduct research into the sectional readership of the Times and the Sunday Times, as well as that of its own daily and Sunday newspapers, to provide advertisers with detailed information into the area (see Telegraph To Conduct Times Readership Research). Despite a huge increase in the amount of sections in daily national newspapers in recent years, there has been no complete study into their readership (see Feature: National Newspaper Supplements).

A few weeks later at the board meeting of the NRS, the group announced its intention to fill the gaps in its own supplements research (see NRS To Broaden Coverage Of Newspaper Sections). Since then the Telegraph has been under pressure to halt its proposals to prevent competition between two measurement systems of readership.

Speaking about the decision today, display advertisement manager at the Telegraph, Chris White-Smith, told Newsline: “Our research is still going ahead. In fact the first questionnaires are due to be sent out next week. We will present the results when the NRS has reached a decision about its own research.”

He said that the Telegraph research was not in competition with the NRS – its methodology and audience samples are different – and that the group is still committed to conducting it.

Daily Telegraph: 0171 538 5000 National Readership Survey: 0171 632 2915