Press Release

Comprehensive Newspaper Survey (J-READ)

April 3, 2002

Video Research Ltd. published its first Comprehensive Newspaper Survey report (49 volumes) on March 25.

The Comprehensive Newspaper Survey is designed to help marketing and advertising professionals create efficient ad plans by presenting scientifically derived, data-based media attributes of newspapers. The survey explores such topics as the relevance of newspapers in people's everyday lives, consumer attitudes and product usage in addition to people's newspaper reading habits recorded during the week of the survey. It shows in detail how readers-the ad targets-interact with their newspapers.

Some example survey findings (nationwide data)

1) How newspapers are perceived

Newspapers are rated highly as a "source of regional/local news" (83%), a "source of reliable information" (77%) and a "means to enhance one's knowledge and mind" (76%).

2) How newspapers are read

Nearly 30% read the last page first.
Nearly 40% read the front page first and then continue either in order of pagination or at random, while nearly 30% read the last page first and then continue in reverse order or at random.

3) When people read newspapers

On weekdays, the peak time of morning edition reading is between seven and eight in the morning.
Morning editions are read mostly between six and nine in the morning with the peak time between seven and eight. Small peaks are also observed between 12 and one in the afternoon and between seven and eight in the evening.

4) How much time people spend reading newspapers

People spend on average 35 minutes a day reading newspapers. A breakdown of daily media contact shows that people spend by far the longest time on TV at 198 minutes a day. Radio comes the second at 37 minutes, narrowly followed by newspapers (35 minutes). Magazines (23 minutes) and the Internet (23 minutes) come the fourth and the fifth respectively.

Outline of the Comprehensive Newspaper Survey

Survey design

Survey area Nationwide (47 prefectures)
Newspapers covered 106
Respondents Men and women aged between 15 and 69
Sampling RDD (random-digit dialing)
Sample size 33,800 individuals nationwide
Survey period Sunday, January 27—Saturday, February 2, 2002
Survey method One-week diary method
Survey items
  • Newspaper reading habits
  • Attitudes towards newspaper reading
  • Contact with other media
  • Perception of the function and characteristics of each medium
  • Product contact and consumption behavior(55 questions concerning product advertising, 99 questions concerning what product people already own and what they want, 64 questions concerning service/facility usage, 80 questions concerning the usage of everyday items)
  • Consumer attitudes and behavior (90 questions in 18 categories)
Report format

49 volumes (A4 size), consisting of:

  • "Comprehensive Newspaper Survey by Prefecture" (47 volumes; about 180 pages each)
  • "Special Report on Newspaper Readership in Japan" (one volume; about 130 pages)
  • "Special Report on Consumer Attitudes in Japan" (one volume; about 190 pages)

Main features

  • The Comprehensive Newspaper Survey covers over 100 leading newspapers in Japan.
  • All papers' readership and readership profiles are measured on the same level.
    The survey measures the readership of all target papers during a one-week period as well as researching what papers are delivered to home directly. All papers' readership profiles and profiles of households that have them delivered are presented under the same format, enabling their direct comparison.
  • The Comprehensive Newspaper Survey illustrates how newspapers are read and how they are positioned in relation to other media.
    The survey sheds light on a psychological aspect of relationships between consumers and newspapers, showing to what extent newspapers and newspaper ads are relevant to consumers as a medium, as well as providing detailed data on their contact with newspapers.
  • The Comprehensive Newspaper Survey presents Japanese consumers' attitudes and behavior from multifaceted perspectives.
    Survey data enables marketing and advertising professionals to analyze Japanese consumers from multifaceted perspectives, such as their values, attitudes, interest in products and consumption trends such as the usage of the Internet and free papers, helping them to understand consumers as readers as well as advertising targets.
  • The standardized survey design makes the Comprehensive Newspaper Survey an ideal source of area marketing data.
    Because the survey is conducted at the same time in all 47 prefectures under the same survey design, not only can each prefecture's data be directly compared with that of others, but it is also possible to position a particular prefecture in a national or regional landscape, making the survey a invaluable source of area marketing data.