NRS figures for freesheets put on hold

The long awaited release of readership data on the free London papers has been delayed after the National Readership Survey made an eleventh-hour decision not to publish its first set of figures for the two titles.

The publishers of thelondonpaper and London Lite, News International and
Associated respectively, welcomed the decision even though they have
been hotly anticipating their first NRS results, which they hoped would
prove that they were well-read and help boost advertising sales
efforts.

The figures, which were due to be published yesterday (Monday), will now
be released on 13 September, when extra data, stemming from
self-completion questionnaires, becomes available.
Media Week understands that News International would not have been happy
with the data had it been published.
In a statement, News International Free Newspaper general manager Ian
Clark said: "It is shocking that, in January, NRS managed to interview
only 15 readers of thelondonpaper in a month when eight million copies
were picked up by our readers."
Associated questioned the timing of the decision, but NRS client
services manager Steve Millington said: "It's better late than never -
we believe it was the right course of action."
News International and Associated are currently in separate negotiations
with Westminster Council over the management of waste newspapers,
following a cabinet meeting last week that decided their distribution
would be curtailed if they failed to reach an agreement.

by Ellen Bennett Media Week 17-Jul-07