[First filed: August 15, 2009 @ 13:09]
A copy of the latest Roy Morgan readership survey has drifted across my desk. The numbers are for the year ending June 2009.
The survey did come with a note that part way through the year the methodology changed to only reflect readership of the dead tree publication. So some drop off was to be expected.
Even so the Canberra Times’ readership slump has to be considered alarming for anyone who cares about this town’s largest media outlet.
A drop from a “readership” (already a suspect concept IMHO) of 110,000 to 84,000 for the Monday to Friday edition? That’s the best part of a quarter!
The Saturday and Sunday editions also dropped but not by the same degree.
One wonders if they’ve discounted their ad rates to reflect this decline?
Perhaps it’s time they stopped treating their website as an afterthought? As it happens there’s a rather good local website editor looking for work at the moment.
(If you’re having trouble reading the numbers click on the image for a bigger one)