Daily newspaper readership up, but Sundays show slight decline

The readership of every morning newspaper in the State increased last year, but indigenous Sunday newspapers experienced a slight decline, according to the latest Joint National Readership Research (JNRR) survey.

Almost 1.4 million people read a morning newspaper every day between July 1998 and June 1999, an increase of over 7 per cent on the previous 12-month period. There was a 0.1 per cent drop in the number of people reading Irish-based Sunday newspapers, which fell by 2,000 to 1,968,000. The JNRR estimates the State's adult population increased by 2 per cent, or 55,000, in the period of the survey.

The Irish Times increased its readership by 5.9 per cent to 303,000. The newspaper's rural readership increased by 27.9 per cent and climbed particularly strongly in Munster, where it was up 45 per cent on the previous 12-month period. The number of 15- to 19-year-olds reading the newspaper increased by over 35 per cent. However, the paper lost 8,000 readers in Connacht/Ulster and 5,000 among the AB classes.

The Irish Independent remained the most widely-read broadsheet newspaper, increasing its readership by 2.5 per cent to 604,000 readers a day. However, the paper lost 14,000 rural readers and 9,000 AB readers. The readership of the Examiner increased by 16.6 per cent to 246,000, with the province of Munster accounting for over 95 per cent of the paper's readers. The only Irish tabloid morning newspaper, the Star, experienced the biggest readership increase of any daily newspaper, rising by 13 per cent to 417,000 readers.

Only one of the five Irish Sunday newspapers increased its readership. In all 168,000 people read Ireland on Sunday, an increase of 21.7 per cent on the previous 12-month period. The most significant decline in readership was experienced by the Sunday Business Post, which fell 17.7 per cent to 116,000 adults.

The Sunday Independent remained the most widely-read Sunday newspaper, with 1,103,000, but lost just over 1 per cent of its readership in the year surveyed. The Sunday World experienced a decline of less than 1 per cent, falling to 975,000 adult readers. The Sunday Tribune's readership fell by 5.4 per cent to 244,000 adults. In all, 1.96 million people read a newspaper every Sunday.

Evening newspapers' readership also declined. The number of adults who read the Evening Herald fell by 3.2 per cent to 332,000. The survey estimates the Cork Evening Echo's readership to have fallen 2,000 to 70,000 adults.

The readership survey was carried out by Lansdowne Market Research on behalf of the National Newspapers of Ireland, the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland, the Association of Advertisers in Ireland and various magazines and cinema interests. It is based on 5,038 interviews conducted over 12 months between July 1998 and June 1999. The survey does not include figures for Irish editions of British newspapers.

The National Newspapers of Ireland organisation said it was happy that "the majority of the growing Irish population continue to look to indigenous Irish newspapers as the primary source of news, views and information".