More people reading news on mobile devices

SINGAPORE — More people are using mobile devices to get their news fix, but printed newspapers remain the staple read for the majority of the adult population here.

According to the findings of a Nielsen survey released yesterday, 65 per cent of those aged 15 and above said they read a hard copy newspaper on an average daily basis, a decline of 4 percentage points compared to last year. In comparison, 12 per cent of the adult population said they usually read the digital versions of newspapers here on their mobile devices, up by 5 percentage points.

Aggregate readership, which comprises online and hard copy readership, for newspapers fell across the board. Compared to last year, The Straits Times’ readership fell by 14,000 to 1.37 million, while The New Paper saw a decline of 107,000 readers to 382,000.

TODAY’s readership dropped by 145,000 to 585,000. It remained the second most-read English newspaper here with a reach of 14.3 per cent — a decline of 4 percentage points. Readership of todayonline.com was 97,000, up 28 per cent compared to last year.

The survey found that TODAY is read by higher-income groups, with almost seven in 10 aggregate readers indicating a monthly household income of S$5,000 and above, while almost half of its readers (46 per cent) are PMEBs (professionals, managers, executives and businessmen).