Abstract:

Recent rapid inflation in Britain has led to a reappraisal of their needs by newspaper readers. This has led to considerable changes in their buying habits, and consequent marked shifts in the proportions of people who buy for different reasons. Those who are most vulnerable to price increases have fallen off at the highest rate, leading to a relative increase in the proportion of readers whose motives are less price elastic. This paper, will show how the Manchester Evening News has monitored these changes, via a continuous readership survey. It will consider the size, stability and importance of each of these different groups of readers, and show their likely development in the future.