The study, which surveyed 6024 Hong Kongers aged 12 to 64, shows that the overall number of daily print readers has increased from 69 per cent in the previous study period (October 2010 to September 2011) to 70 per cent in the latest study period (October 2011 to September 2012).
During the same period, the proportion of free daily readers increased from 39 per cent to 44 per cent, but readership for paid dailies fell from 52 per cent to 48 per cent.
With the launch of Sky Post on 27 July 2011 and Sharp Daily on 19 September 2011, the total circulation of the current six free dailies was almost 3.3 million a day, according to the latest figures from the Hong Kong Audit Bureau of Circulations (April through June 2012).
The survey showed a considerable increase of online reading for dailies, with 18 per cent now reading their dailies via their smartphone or tablet, and 17 per cent via their PC/laptop.
With print remaining stable over the years, the overall consumption of dailies, across all platforms, has increased since last year, from 75 to 78 per cent.
“Digital is also opening up a whole new market,” said Susanna Lam, director at Ipsos MediaCT in Hong Kong. “Readers can have access to up-to-date news with greater interactivity—it is particular appealing to the ‘digital natives’, and will keep growing in the years to come.”
Although over a quarter of Hong Kong people read dailies via computers or mobile devices, the discrete online-only newspaper audience is still modest in size.
However, cross-platform readership is the key, especially for the younger generations, with 25- to 34-year-olds being heavy readers of online news (42 per cent). While 9 per cent of them read their daily via print, mobile and PC, 6 per cent are ‘mobile-only’ readers.
“While their reading habits are different and more adapted to their mobile, on-the-go lifestyle, overall readership has not seen a real decline with the younger generations, at 77 per cent (against 78 per cent for the whole population),” Lam said. “But newspapers will have to continue to adapt if they want to keep the interest of tomorrow’s readers.”
