Record readership for 'The Irish Times'

THE IRISH TIMES had an average daily readership of 369,000 last year – the highest in its history – according to the latest JNRS figures. Readership increased by 52,000 in 2009 compared to the previous year.

The figures are contained in the JNRS, Joint National Readership Survey, for the calendar year 2009.

The survey, conducted by Millward Brown Lansdowne, showed that, overall, the number of people regularly reading a newspaper in the Republic increased during 2009 by 3,000, to 3.529 million.

The figures show that 79 per cent of readers of The Irish Timeswere in the ABC1 social class, with 69 per cent of the readership living in the greater Dublin area.

“This is a terrific good news story for us,” said Maeve Donovan, managing director of The Irish Times Ltd.

“The redesign of the newspaper and its supplements is attracting new readers, and in particular young readers and female readers.”

The Irish Independentrecorded an average daily readership of 581,000, an increase of 61,000 over the 2008 figure. Its sister newspaper, the Evening Herald, suffered a fall in readership of 28,000, to 289,000.

The Irish Examinerrecorded an average daily readership of 208,000, an increase of 6,000 on the 2008 figure.

The Irish Daily Starrecorded a fall of 62,000 in its figure, to 420,000, while the Irish Sun'sreadership figure fell by 6,000 during the year to 295,000.

The Irish Daily Mirrorsaw its readership rise by 5,000 to 211,000, while the Irish Daily Mailincreased by 3,000, to 142,000.

Readership of the Sunday Independent increased by 90,000, to 1.031 million. Readership of the Sunday World, also published by the Independent group, fell by 107,000, to 812,000. The associated Sunday Tribunesaw its readership rise by 33,000 to 185,000.

The Sunday Timessaw its readership increase by 78,000, to 415,000.

The Sunday Business Post, owned by the Thomas Crosbie Holdings group, which also owns the Irish Examiner, saw its readership rise by 41,000, to 196,000.

Readership of the Irish Farmers' Journalrose by 52,000, to 272,000.

The JNRS survey also includes figures for the supplements and magazines published by daily and Sunday newspapers.

The Irish Times Magazine, published on Saturdays, had an average readership during 2009 of 369,000, an increase of 77,000 over the previous year.

HEALTHplus, the health supplement of The Irish Times, had an average readership of 254,000. There was no comparable figure available for 2008.

The newspaper's travel supplement, Go, had an average readership during the year of 211,000, while entertainment supplement The Ticket, published on Fridays, had an average readership of 238,000.