Time Frame Issued for New UK Readership Measure

In the UK, newspaper and consumer magazine publishers have issued a time frame for their audience measurement review, with the aim of testing a new multi-platform system from mid-2015 and rolling it out from early 2016.

Until now, the system has been administered by the National Readership Service (NRS) - a joint venture between the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), the Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA), and the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA). However, in July, the UK's national newspaper industry announced plans to establish a new cross-platform audience measurement system, while the NPA served an 18-month notice on the NRS.

As part of the review, a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) will be issued at the end of this month, with a deadline for submission of 5th December 2014. The process is being managed by media consultancy Mediatique, with guidance from an industry advisory group comprising NPA and representatives from industry bodies, the IPA, ISBA and PPA. It will be chaired by Jed Glanvill of interim management consultancy Glanvill & Co, and the NRS and current major data provider Ipsos MORI will continue to be fully consulted.

Rufus Olins (pictured) CEO of newspaper marketing body Newsworks comments: 'All stakeholders have agreed that the measurement system for published media and their digital variants has not sufficiently evolved to account for an increasingly multi-platform environment. We are seeking to establish a new measurement system for published media in the UK, capable of tracking readership and usage across multiple platforms and securing consistent measures of engagement applicable across the industry.'

Expressions of interest should be sent to rfp@mediatique.co.uk .