Thumbs up for new titles

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