NRS Postpones Freesheet Figures
The NRS has released a statement explaining why it has postponed the release of data for the two London afternoon freesheets, which was expected to be released yesterday.
Roger Pratt, managing director of the NRS, said: “NRS has taken the decision to postpone the release of data for the two London freesheets; London Lite and thelondonpaper until the June data release.
“The decision was taken because on close inspection of the data it was concluded that the estimates for both papers for the period December 2006 – May 2007 are at the moment based on an insufficiently complete sample as they cannot include responses to the self-completion questionnaire (SCQ).
“SCQ respondents are only included in the full quarterly database, and the April and May data about to be released therefore currently exclude them. Normally this would not be an issue, because the interim monthly estimates do not impact on the trading currency, which is based on quarterly data.
“But for these two publications the Dec 06 – May 07 estimates would be the first NRS estimates to be released, and they are likely therefore to be particularly influential.”
Data for periods ending June will be available to subscribers on the 13 September 2007.
Talking to the Guardian, Steve Millington, NRS client services manager, said that although there had been problems with getting Londoners to complete data requests this was now being addressed.
“We are doing everything we can to improve the response rate in London and we introduced an incentive scheme in September which has led to a five percentage point increase,” he said.
In June the NRS revealed that it had recorded a 20% increase in its London response rate following the introduction of new initiatives, such as a scheme of financial incentives for respondents (see NRS Records 20% Increase In London Response Rate).
Speaking at the MediaTel Group seminar on the Future of National Newspapers earlier this month, Simon Marquis, chairman of the NRS, said that the organisation is adapting its methods to ensure that it keeps up with the needs of publishers.
However, Ian Clark, managing director of thelondonpaper and a fellow panellist was not so sure, adding that while he welcomed new initiatives from the NRS, it was possibly too “little, too late” (see Web Based Approach Is Future Of NRS).
thelondonpaper‘s circulation for June was well ahead of its rival afternoon freesheet the London Lite, recording a month on month increase of almost 10,000 copies (see thelondonpaper Increases Lead Over London Lite).
NRS: 020 7242 8111 www.nrs.co.uk