MRUC studies readership of newspaper pullouts

Adding one more dimension to its readership survey, the Media Research Users' Council (MRUC) has undertaken the task of studying the readership patterns of sections and pullouts within newspapers, which will be fused with the IRS 2002 and 2003 to make it as robust as possible.

SPARR or Sections, Pullouts & Attitudinal Readership Research also includes a study on psychographics and lifestyles, which will be reported separately. Hansa Research Group, the agency commissioned to do the fieldwork, undertook a pilot study in Mumbai, findings of which were released yesterday at the YB Chavan Centre in the city.

With a sample size of 1,920 respondents across SEC A to E, the study took into account 11 dailies and 50 pullouts including those of The Times of India, Economic Times, Indian Express, Mid Day, Gujarat Samachar, Mumbai Samachar, Lokmat, Loksatta, Maharashtra Times, Saamna and Sakal. "Basically, all dailies with a readership of 2 per cent and above in IRS 2001 were considered for the study," said NP Sathyamurthy, director general, MRUC, while presenting the findings.

Section-wise, the study pointed out that the ratio of readers for business and sports was higher with the bulk coming from males in the age group of 20-24 years in socio-economic classes A and B.

Within pullouts, city specials, general interest, lifestyle and entertainment specials have high readability. However, education/employment and investment and property were not far behind on the readability index. The influx of readers was primarily in the socio-economic classes ABC though language-wise patterns were different. English readers, for instance, were spread across interest groups, while Gujarati and Marathi readers showed a high affinity for general interest.

The psychographic aspect of the study was an interesting one, which touched upon seven segments defined on the basis of 47 attitudinal statements generated through allied research, group discussions and talks with various ad agencies. The fieldwork involved obtaining a level of agreement to all 47 statements, which was then reduced to 10 factors, helping in the final cluster of the seven segments.

These included the underprivileged escapist (6 per cent), unconcerned (10 per cent), average consumer (28 per cent), aspiring consumer (11 per cent), unhappy consumer (28 per cent), privileged consumer (15 per cent) and constrained consumer (2 per cent).

Sub-metros or different parts of the city were profiled on the basis of socio-economic class, education, mother tongue, medium of education and readership profile. This aspect will also be included in the IRS 2003, according to Ashok Das, managing director, Hansa Research Group, which is the field agency for the study.

When tracking the preferred channel among various audiences, STAR Plus emerged as the top channel among females while Aaj Tak was the leader among males belonging primarily to socio-economic class A. DD National was a leader among individuals in socio-economic classes D and E. © 2003 agencyfaqs!