The Irish Times, the Sunday Tribune and the Sunday Business Post, as well as the Examiner, have increased their readerships, according to the latest annual survey. The figures, published today, show that while the Star shows a small increase of 0.5 per cent, the Republic's two evening newspapers, the Evening Herald and the Cork Evening Echo, are both down substantially.
The Irish Independent and Sunday Independent are losing readers. The Sunday World is also down.
The survey, undertaken for the Joint National Readership Research by Lansdowne Market Research Ltd, compares readership between July 1996 and June 1997 with the period between July 1995 and June 1996. It is the State's largest random probability survey, using 5,000 people.
It is the advertising industry's main source of information when planning campaigns. These data, rather than circulation figures, are preferred, as they indicate how many people, and who, actually reads a newspaper, rather than just how many newspapers are bought.
The Irish Independent showed a decrease of 15,000 readers, down 2.4 per cent. The Irish Times is up 11,000 readers, a 4 per cent increase. The Star has gained 2,000 readers, while the Examiner is up 13.2 per cent, or 26,000 new readers. The Herald is down 18.6 per cent, losing 90,000 readers. The other evening newspaper, the Evening Echo, lost 42,000 readers - a massive 40 per cent.
On Sunday, the Sunday Independent is down 2.8 per cent and lost 33,000 readers, while the Sunday World is down 4.7 per cent, or 48,000 readers. The Sunday Tribune and the Sunday Business Post both gained 5,000 readers and increased by 2 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively.
Despite its decline in reader numbers, the Sunday Independent is still the most widely read Sunday newspaper, with 1,152,000 readers weekly. The Sunday World has 968,000 readers, while the Sunday Tribune has 256,000 and the Sunday Business Post 107,000.
The Irish Times has 283,000 readers. The Irish Independent 612,000, the Star 376,000 and the Examiner 222,000.
The Examiner's advances coincide with its change from the Cork Examiner to a national profile. The decline of the evening newspaper readership could be explained by the emergence of seven-day television guides in Sunday newspapers. Both evening newspapers are also facing increased competition from enhanced daily newspapers within the same group.
The Irish Independent has a 45 per cent rural and 55 per cent urban readership and 46 per cent of its readers fall into the ABC1 social groupings so attractive to advertisers.
The Irish Times is largely urban, with 16 per cent of its readers from rural Ireland. Its readership is predominantly ABC1, at 80 per cent. Sixty-six per cent of the Star's readers are urban.