Ipsos Wins Aus Readership 'Currency' Survey

Ipsos MediaCT has been chosen by Australian non-profit body The Newspaper Works to develop and run a new readership measurement system for the country's newspapers and magazines.

The body announced today that Ipsos had been the 'unanimous choice' to measure readership across multiple platforms, including print, online and mobile content technologies. Ipsos beat TNS Australia and GfK: Mediamark to the contract - the three research companies were shortlisted in April.

Newspaper Works' CEO Tony Hale said in a statement that the new metric would deliver sectional information, and investigate the possibility of more frequent data. Hale said Ipsos had launched '20 readership measurement systems around the world in the last 10 years', had 'a thorough understanding of the Australian market and have assembled a strong local and international team.'

Ipsos has appointed Mary-Ellen Vincent to lead the project as Managing Director. In a statement, Vincent said Australia's readership measurement had lost its status as a world leader while the world of publishing and advertising had advanced rapidly, and promised: 'It is a leadership position Ipsos hopes to help the industry here to re-gain, with a scope that is both wider and deeper than previous studies.'

One party that presumably disagrees with the idea that the industry has fallen behind the pace is Roy Morgan, which has been measuring Australian newspaper readership since the seventies, until now providing the main readership currency in the country, and which declined to take part in the tender, citing a 'lack of clarity' about what Newspaper Works wanted to achieve. Roy Morgan is continuing with its existing Single Source survey, paid for by individual media agencies and publishers. The agency has powerful backers including magazine publishing giant ACP, which a year ago quit its national association in support and which produces one in every two magazines produced in Australia.

Web sites: www.thenewspaperworks.com.au , www.ipsos.com and www.roymorgan.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

• Ipsos UK
• All news
• MrWeb info