The National Readership Survey

What is the NRS?

Since 1856, the NRS has been providing the "most authoritative and valued audience research in use for print and digital advertising trading in Britain". With the rising of social media, NRS now provides information about the increasing readership of online publications.

 
• Readership - this is a rough estimate of the amount of people of a specific target audience have read the magazine. The figures show the audience demographic, and can be useful in prediction what else they might read, although there are many people who can deviate from general demographics.

 

What's the problem?

The NRS doesn't always give the best information, this is because;

• The range of audience is too big - there is no young adult category, as 15 -34 is a big difference, this then suggests that all 15-34s have similar interests. Also, 35+ is too large as well - this also suggests that they are all the same, therefore there cannot be accurate comparison or readership.
• Socio - economic status are too broad - they are grouped together, therefore it doesn't give an accurate result of readership because, as an example, the 55% of readers in ABC1 could all be B, but you wouldn't be able to tell.
• Not all information collected - it is impossible to get every single reader, so some magazines might seem to have little readership, but could have more than is recorded.

How does this help me?

I can use this information to conclude that the best target audience is ABC1s because they have purchased more, meaning they have the disposable income to afford magazines. Also, it shows that magazines are more popular amongst the 15-34 year olds - this is ideal for me because my specific target audience are the younger generation. Furthermore, Q and NME have a high audience of the 15 - 34s, so this means that I can look at these magazines to see what is inside in order to make my magazine more appealing to my target audience.