Sections – Qualitative Research Results

The NRS commissioned research by BJM into readership of newspaper sections has been released, finding that the interests a reader may have, relating to the topic interest question, do not necessarily correspond to the relevant paper or sections read or looked at. There was also some difficulty with respondent understanding of the question.

It was found that readers have a high level of awareness of physically separate sections of a newspaper but little knowledge of separate sections of tabloid sized papers which are inserted into the centre or other pages of the main paper. Respondents were also patchy on knowledge of sections’ titles, and even when prompted with a short description some readers did not recognise some sections or their titles.

The way in which tabloid and broadsheet papers are read is also different. Tabloids tend to be read in three ways; either every page is read or looked at normally in order – although men may look at sport first; or every page is read or looked at until pages of no interest are reached; or just a few pages are read are looked at, complementary to a usual paper.

With broadsheets, however, every page is looked at; or some sections are avoided; or there is an order of priority. As the time available varies, so does what is actually read in a given issue.

NRS: 071 379 0344

BJM: 071 251 3616