Two surveys released on Wednesday show the UK newspaper with the highest combined print and online readership is also the least trusted.
A new dataset released in the UK measures print and digital circulation of the British press for the first time. The study, called the National Readership Survey Print and Digital Data (NRS PADD), used 35,000 responses about where people go online measured by UKON/Nielsen combined with readership numbers from the NRS.
British newspapers are divided into “quality” and “tabloid and mid-market” categories, with the Murdoch-owned Sun leading both categories with a combined monthly print and online readership of 17.79 million, followed by the Daily Mail with 16.43 million. the Guardian has the biggest combined monthly readership of the “quality” titles, at 8.95 million, just ahead of the Daily Telegraph’s combined readership of 8.82 million.
Newspapers saw an audience increase of an average of 20 percent with the inclusion of online statistics. The full dataset is available to view and The Guardian has broken down the numbers by category.
The Sun is also the least trusted newspaper, according to the second survey. The poll, by communications consultancy Open Road and marketing researching company Populus, asked 2,064 adults to what extent they trusted various media outlets in the UK. They were given five options, from “trust completely” to “distrust completely.” The data shows that only 9 percent of the group said they trusted The Sun completely compared to 39 percent for the Guardian and also for the Daily Telegraph, which have the highest readerships of the “quality” titles.
The full results from the survey, including colorful infographics, are available via Open Road.
