Readership among most daily and Sunday newspapers has fallen, according to the new Joint National Readership Survey (JNRS), released yesterday.
The statistics for the period from June 2002 to July 2003 are different to previous surveys. The main question put to respondents has been changed, while six British-owned titles are included for the first time.
The survey shows readership falling at The Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the Star and the Evening Herald, with several Sunday titles also suffering significant losses.
The Joint National Readership Survey (JNRS) shows readership of The Irish Times at 305,000, down 38,000; the Irish Independent was down 69,000 at 522,000; the Examiner was unchanged at 210,000; the Star was down 49,000 at 435,000 and the Evening Herald was down 14,000 at 338,000.
Two daily titles were included in the survey for the first time - the Irish Mirror at 200,000 and the Irish Sun at 284,000.
In the Sunday market, losses were on a bigger scale. The Sunday Independent had one million readers, but this was down 101,000 during the period; the Sunday World was at 847,000, down 189,000; the Sunday Tribune was at 218,000, down 10,000; the Sunday Business Post was at 153,000, down 13,000; while Ireland on Sunday was at 433,000, up 247,000.
Several British-owned Sunday titles were also included for the first time: the Sunday Times was at 298,000; the News of the World was at 509,000; the Irish Sunday Mirror was at 187,000 and the Irish People was at 148,000.
In this survey there has been a change in the definition of a reader.
Respondents must have read a publication for at least two minutes. Previously, if a person read or looked at a publication, no matter for how long, they qualified as a reader.
Because of the changes, comparing the latest statistics with previous results is more difficult, but yesterday advertisers welcomed the figures nevertheless.
Readership statistics measure the number of people who have read a publication, whereas circulation measures only the number of people buying a newspaper.
Mr Martin Clarke, editor-in chief of Ireland on Sunday, said the figures showed the paper was now a firm fixture in the Irish newspaper scene.
Commenting on the overall figures, the National Newspaper of Ireland (NNI) said: "These very impressive figures, which are consistently strong across all the main demographic sub-groups, clearly prove it is through newspapers that advertisers can best target their customers".
A statement said: "The survey provides a wealth of information, which very much reflects the changes in Irish society in recent years. It shows that 93 per cent of 15 - 24 year-olds read newspapers - an extremely high figure considering all the technology that is so readily available to this generation".
Mr Barry Brennan, group marketing director of Independent News & Media, said the company was delighted its figures held up so well despite the entry into the survey of six new UK-owned titles. He said the Sunday Independent, despite the increasing competition, had held on to its one million readers
Ms Muirne Laffan, executive director of RTÉ Publishing, said she was very satisfied with the performance of the RTÉ Guide, which had 420,000 readers.
"Proportionately, the Guide has experienced the least dramatic loss of readers when compared to other Irish print titles".
The JNRS survey is the largest random survey after the census, with 7,000 interviews conducted face-to-face through- out the country each year. It is carried out on behalf of the NNI, the Irish editions of UK titles, the Regional Newspapers Advertising Network, various magazine publishers and the Institute of Advertising Practitioners and the Association of Advertisers in Ireland.