Thumbs up for new titles

The attitude of readers to some new print titles in Singapore is positive, according to an OMD survey titled "Project Tabloid - The Impact of New Print Titles" conducted by an independent research agency, Joshua Fieldwork Specialist. But it also found that t while the uptake of some of the new titles was strong, there was little impact to the readership of long-established publications. According to the study, Streats had a reach of 16 per cent while Today was at 10 per cent. Project Eyeball, however, didn't fare too well with a reach of only one per cent. In comparison, market leaders Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao showed a reach of 47 and 23 per cent respectively, largely unchanged from before the launch of the new titles, reinforcing the fact that Singaporeans regularly read more than one title on a daily basis. OMD associate research director Nick Wiggin said, "Streats has done very well, while Project Eyeball did poorly because the content and the layout of Project Eyeball were not as appealing as Streats," Meanwhile, it appears that Streats and Today are eating into the readership of fellow tabloid, The New Paper, which saw its reach drop from 16 to 13 per cent. Mr Wiggin said, "The slight decline in The New Paper was because it is also a tabloid like Streats and Today and because the readership profile is very similar. The broadsheets, like Straits Times, were unaffected because they have a different readership profile and content". OMD research director Florence Oong said, "Attitudes to Streats and Today have been positive, ranging from "easy to read", "refreshing" and "free". Streats received positive review on its layout and photos whereas Today performed slightly better than Streats in terms of credibility." Mr Wiggin predicted that "prospects for new papers will likely be good as there were no free publications before." The survey was conducted over a one-week period - November 24 to December 1 last year. It took place two weeks after the launch of Today and three months and two months after Streats and Project Eyeball respectively rolled out. A total of 526 people were interviewed by telephone and all were readers of at least one newspaper in the past six months.

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