NRS PADD: Daily Mail records dip, Guardian maintains growth

The National Readership Survey (NRS) has today released its latest figures combining both print and online readership for newsbrands between April 2013 and March 2014.

The Daily Mail continues to lead the ranks with a combined readership of almost 18.7 million, though this is down -5.8 % on the last period.

The newsbrand’s print and digital audience remains fairly evenly split, recording an average of 11.1 million print readers and 10.5 million online visitors for the period.

A slightly different story for rival the Sun, however, with the majority of the title’s audience lying in print. While the newsbrand has a combined readership of 14.5 million, just 1.5 million come from its paywall-protected online platform.

Overall, the newsbrand was down -4.8% over the period, largely due to a decline in its online audience.

In contrast, the Guardian, which was up 2.3% over the period to secure a combined readership of 12.6 million, recorded a majority of its readership online, with an average of 10.4 million unique visitors.

The Daily Telegraph remained fairly flat over the period, up just 0.6% in combined readership, with the small increase in readers coming from its online audience.

The Daily Express, whose readership audience is split down the middle, saw the biggest decline in combined readership, down -13.5%, while the Daily Record – also split fairly evenly between print and online – was down -8.4%.

While the majorty of newsbrands’ online platforms are currently unmetered, a new study has revealed that over half of journalists, political insiders and business leaders believe that paywalls are the future of digital news.

Of the 739 respondents, the research found that 42% think “soft” or “metered” paywalls are the most viable business strategy for newsbrands, with 14% thinking that full or “hard” paywalls make “most long-term commercial sense”.

Currently, only the Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Times and the Financial Times have any sort of paywall implemented.

The Financial Times has since pulled out of providing NRS data.

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