Open Access

Readership Accumulation

The NRS Survey of Readership Accumulation over Time was designed to provide an estimate of the different speeds at which individual newspapers and magazines accumulate their readership. This provides NRS subscribers with an additional planning tool: the ability to see how different types of publication on a media schedule build their coverage over time.

The Accumulation Survey was conducted as a separate survey to the main NRS, and the contract was awarded to NOP who utilised the assistance of their American partner MRI (who had recent experience of conducting an accumulation survey in the USA).

In common with the other companies that pitched for the contract, NOP recommended a self-completion diary in which respondents over the course of a specified week recorded the newspapers and magazines they read each day, noting the cover date of the issue and whether or not it was the first occasion they had read that particular issue. Following two pilot tests of the diary in 2001, there were two waves of fieldwork in October -November 2001 and March-April 2002 during which a total of 7,000 diaries were completed and used in analysis.

Readership Accumulation is based on the time lapse between an issue's first appearance (e.g. on the newsstand) and the first time it is read. The Survey reveals differences in the shape of the accumulation 'curve' between one type of publication and another.

This chart shows day-by-day readership accumulation curves for 24 publication groups, starting from Day 1 (the first appearance date) and ending at Day 182+.

NRS subscribers have access to accumulation curves for individual publications on this website; they also have access to the data via the computer bureaux for time-based press planning.