Daily Telegraph To Provide Sections Readership

The Daily Telegraph has set up its own survey to provide advertisers with information about the readership of its separate sections. The research, called Telegraph Section Planner, preempts attempts by the National Readership Survey (NRS) to include all newspaper sections on its survey.

The Telegraph is the first quality national newspaper to provide advertisers with details of who reads its different sections and is based on a sample of 4,000 Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph readers. The survey shows, for example, that 84% of company chairman, chief executives and managing directors, who read the Telegraph, will read its daily weekday Business News section. Saturday’s Telegraph Magazine and Weekend supplements both reach 91% of female Telegraph readers, according to the research.

Chris White-Smith, display advertising manager for the Telegraph, says: “Agencies and advertisers have been calling for section readership for years. But the pace of change has been slow and sections will not appear on NRS before summer 2001 at the earliest. Our initiative will mean that agencies will now know who reads what section [bringing] a new dimension to their campaign planning for their clients.”

Roger Pratt, managing director of NRS, says that the NRS has increased its coverage of national newspaper supplements from nine to 21 and is hoping to cover all sections when the research contract is renewed at the end of next year. However, Pratt says that the 21 sections covered in the NRS, along with the main papers, command 90% of advertising spend across national newspapers.

Pratt argues that the more sections surveyed, the more complex it is for interviewees to accurately recall where they read what they did. He says: “We are trying to put a better methodology in place in order to more accurately probe readers’ habits.”

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