NRS April-September’92 Commentary
The latest NRS data is the first to include the new Computer Aided Personal Interviews (CAPI) system. The figures for April to September are based on a combination of the new CAPI method and the old pen and paper method. Data for July to September was obtained using the new CAPI system, while data obtained prior to July was obtained using the pen and paper system.
N.B. NRS/RSL RECOMMEND YEAR-ON-YEAR COMPARISONS SHOULD NOT BE DONE SO THE FOLLOWING COMPARISONS SHOULD BE TREATED WITH CAUTION.
Quality Newspapers
The Sunday Times achieved the highest year-on-year readership increase among the quality titles, up by 5.8% on April to September’91 to 3,631,000. The Sunday Telegraph rose by a respectable 4% to 1,780,000. Less encouraging were the results for the other quality Sundays. The Independent on Sunday fell 3% to 1,252,000 and the Observer fell 5.3% to 1,677,000.
The Guardian fell by 7% to 1,176,000, its’ readership looks to be edging down to the 1 million mark.
Mid Market Newspapers
All the mid market newspapers increased their readership against April to September’91. Today’s recent upward trend,already shown in its’ circulation figures, is reinforced with a jump in readership of 17.8% to 1,667,000. The Daily Mail rose 7.8% to 4,518,000 and the Daily Express rose 2.7% to 3,826,000. The Mail on Sunday recorded the lowest increase of the group, up by 1.6% to 5,630,000.
Populars
In contrast all the popular newspapers lost readership. Surprisingly, given its recent circulation results, the People recorded the lowest fall down by 0.9% to 6,259,000. The largest loss among the populars was recorded by the Sunday Sport, down by 11.2% to 1,260,000
General Weeklies
The TV listings magazines occupy the top of the general weeklies table with the highest readership figures. The radio Times heads the TV listings group with a readership of 5,264,000. This figure is down by 240,000 on January to June’92, there are no April to September’91 figures available for comparison.
The TV Times recorded a readership of 4,812,000, up by 20,000 on January to June’92. What’s on TV achieved a figure of 2,790,000, an increase of almost 300,000 on January to June, while TV Quick fell by 50,000 to 2,763,000. General weeklies to achieve substantial increases included Shoot, up by 15.4% to 518,000, Time Out, up by 11.3% to 473,000, and New Scientist, up by 12.4% to 418,000.
At the other end of the scale Country Life recorded a 20.6% fall in circulation to 506,000. The Weekly News dropped 16.1% to 967,000 and the NME dropped 15.4% to 576,000.
General Monthlies
Among the general monthly magazines the motoring titles have faired well. Performance Car’s readership rose by 31.3% year-on-year to 932,000. Classic and Sportscar rose 19.7% to 633,000 and Car rose 18.2% to 839,000.
The film magazines Empire and Flicks also achieved good results. Empire rose by 22.8% to 296,000 and Flicks rose by 22.8% to 296,000.
General weeklies to experience large losses in readership included Select, down by 34.3% to 284,000, Sky, down by 15.4% to 1,025,000, and Q, down by 8.9% to 194,000.
Women’s Weeklies
The results for the women’s weeklies were disappointing, the group as a whole experienced a 3.6% drop in total readership to 26,438,000. Only 4 titles in this group increased their readership. Hello rose 29.3% to 1,294,000 and Take a Break rose 114.2% 2,910,000. My Guy, which now reports annual figures, rose by 1.1% to 179,000 and Woman’s Weekly rose 0.7% to 2,434,000.
Woman’s Own, which currently has the highest readership in this group, fell by 13.4% to 3,370,000. It now stands just 8,000 above Bella, which experienced a 6.7% fall against April to September’91.
Me recorded the greatest drop in this group, down 16.5% to 1,263,000.
Women’s Monthlies
The women’s monthlies recorded far more encouraging results than the weeklies with well over half achieving readership increases. Prima continues to maintain its’ position at the top of the table with an increase of 1.4% to 2,195,000. Good Housekeeping rose above the 2 million mark for the first time for several years, with an increase of 7.6% to 2,042,000.
The highest increase in this group was achieved by Country Homes and Interiors, up by 66.1% to 525,000. Home and Country also faired well with an increase of 50.6% to 381,000. Marie Claire and New Woman also achieved substantial increases*093arie Claire rose by 37.5% to 803,000 and New Woman rose by 33.7% to 599,000.
World of Interiors experienced the greatest drop in readership among the women’s monthlies, down 15.3% to 166,000. Harpers and Queen also recorded a large fall, down by 14.1% to 427,000.
Vanity Fair recorded its first readership figure during this period, with a figure of 291,000 it falls towards the bottom of the table.