UK: free newspaper thelondonpaper may back out of National Readership Survey

Posted by Alisa Zykova on November 18, 2008 at 11:21 AM

Free newspaper thelondonpaper, owned by News International, announces plans to pull out of the National Readership Survey (NRS). However, until a new chief executive is assigned, the decision will not be finalized.

thelondonpaper's Managing Director Ian Clarke urges the NRS to change its analysis method, suggesting that sample size has to be larger since the data seems "misleading" and "increasingly irrelevant" for free titles. According to Clarke, there were only 312 respondents for the publication in the last six months, whereas over 30 million copies were circulated. He adds that Web-based surveys may help target younger "upmarket" Londoners, reports Brand Republic.

NRS numbers demonstrated that the title has fewer readers than its Associated-owned rival London Lite, even though thelondonpaper distributes 100,000 more copies. From October last year to September this year, London Lite had 69,000 more readers than thelondonpaper, amounting to 1,058,000.

thelondonpaper will be spending on London YouGov studies, which may be less prestigious but offer larger sample sizes, Brand Republic writes. Managing Director of London Lite, Steve Auckland, said that the behaviour was "typical" of the publishing group, saying that "if the sample does not fit, they just want to change the currency."

Source: Brand Republic