In recent years, news consumption patterns have shifted as consumers have embraced a diverse range of new platforms. As a result, the Joint National Readership Survey (JNRS) had to adapt to capture a true picture of newspaper consumption now.

The first JNRS report to measure print and digital newspaper readership launched in August 2013. The research was conducted by Millward Brown using a new methodology that is based on international best practice in this area.

The large (approx. 7,000) and nationally weighted sample that JNRS draws upon ensures that it provides robust data that captures the newspaper readership habits of the entire adult population.

3 Million People in Ireland Read Newspapers in Print and Online

The findings of JNRS 2012/2013 enabled for the identification of some fascinating trends. Not least of these was that despite all of the digital media available to consumers, 2.9 million adults continue to choose to read printed newspapers regularly. Across all print and digital platforms, readership is impressive, at 84 per cent of the adult populations.

One of the most surprising findings was the high level of disparity amongst geo and socio demographic groups in terms of their consumption of newspaper content online.

While the national average rate for reading a newspaper online weekly was 13 per cent, amongst people living in Dublin, this figure climbed to 21 per cent and it reached 30 per cent amongst people in the AB group nationwide.

The highest levels of online readership were found when several indicating factors were combined. For example, amongst 25-44 year old ABs working full time and living in Dublin the rate of reading newspapers was found to be 53 per cent. This compares with a rate of just 3 per cent of 55 year olds in the C2 group living in rural areas.

JNRS 2013 Will Allow for Comparison

The new JNRS data enables publishers and advertisers to analyse who reads newspapers in print and online by a range of socio demographic information and by platform. This provides new insights into how Irish adults consume news and who the most engaged news consumers are.

The next JNRS report, JNRS 2013 will follow the same methodology and will thus be fully comparable with the previous report.

JNRS 2013 will provide data for the full year of 2013 and is scheduled for publication in February 2013. The full report is accessible through Telmar software.

To subscribe to JNRS contact Anna Clarke