NRS to record online readership figures

The National Readership Survey has announced plans to record readership figures for leading publishers’ websites, in a move to give advertisers and publishers a better understanding of how readers interact with publications via their websites.

The scheme will be trialled among national daily and Sunday papers and magazines.

The NRS says that the scheme should provide audience estimates and demographic profile data on the cross-platform reach of about 70 newspapers and magazines.

It adds that the move was taken as a response to the growing number of publishers developing an online presence for their printed brands.

Respondents will be asked questions such as which websites they have been visiting and how often they visit them. They will be asked the questions as a separate part of the main NRS interview, which provides estimates of readership numbers for printed newspapers and magazines.