A fresh look at estimating readership frequency distributions. Modelling readership and exposure distributions using a frequency question

This paper focuses on the frequency approach to measuring both average issue readership and publications turnover/casualness rates, with an emphasis on the measurement of turnover (or casualness) figures, and finds a respondent's proportion of reading derived from the frequency question cannot be used as personal probabilities to predict future behaviour.

A Fresh Look at Estimating Readership Frequency Distributions

Modelling Readership and Exposure Distributions Using a Frequency Question

Gary MorganRoy Morgan Research, Australia

Michele LevineRoy Morgan Research, Australia

Sergey DorofeevRoy Morgan Research, United Kingdom

INTRODUCTION

In readership measurement research, there are three main approaches used to estimate a publication's average issue readership:

  • Specific issue:

    • Full through-the-book specific issue approach – for publications read or looked into in a broad time period, (e.g. the last six months), each respondent is shown a particular issue (four to six weeks old for a weekly magazine, eight to twelve weeks old...

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