Readers per copy findings presented to EMRO

Readership figures from SAARF AMPS are sometimes questioned by users, who claim that they are too high, especially when seen in relation to the ABC's circulation figures. They claim that magazines like Kick Off and Tribute, which achieve readers per copy figures in the twenties, would not be able to withstand such levels of pass-on wear and tear.

SAARF initiated a study to dig deeper into the readers per copy debate, and track the journeys of several issues of soccer magazine Kick Off, one of the contested titles.

A small urban and rural qualitative sample of Kick Off readers, extracted from AMPS 2001A, was used. In-depth interviews were conducted with these readers of the magazine. From there, the interviewer set off to trace the original purchaser by tracking back to determine the origin of the copy, or in cases where the copy had been passed on to someone else, the next person who had read that particular copy. This trail was followed until the publication was thrown away or recycled.

In both the urban and rural environments, it soon became clear that it is quite possible to have 20 readers plus per copy. The highest number of readers per copy in the urban study came to 22, and in the rural, 23.

Tracking down readers

A respondent from Soweto originally bought his copy of Kick Off at Pick 'n Pay. When he got home, three other members of his household read it. He then passed the magazine on to a further eight people, before finally giving it to a friend of his. This friend in turn let around eight more people read it (both household members and others), before giving it to yet another person. The trail ended here though, because this next owner could not be tracked down. At least 22 people had read this copy before the trail went cold.

In the rural study, one respondent in Sekakeng, Bochum, bought his copy of Kick Off at Checkers. The magazine was available to five other household members to read. He also estimated that he had given it to another 10 people, before passing it on to a friend. Before the friend threw away the magazine, four of his household's members read it, and he lent it to two more friends. That's a total of at least 23 people who read the copy, and if you consider that every person who borrowed the magazine may also have shown it to their own households, you're looking at very large readers per copy figures.

In summary, the interviewers found that Kick Off readers usually allow other members of their households, as well as friends, to read the magazine. They rarely throw it away, either keeping it for future reference or passing it along to somebody else. These soccer fans will do their best to obtain a copy even if it is an old copy. So it's not such a stretch of the imagination to see so many people reading any one copy. Interestingly enough, these copies easily withstood the handling by their readers, and were good for many more avid soccer fans.

Barbara Cooke of Marketing and Media Research Brokers agrees. "It is easy to get to 20 readers per copy in the South African market," she says emphatically, and has a story to prove it.

When Cooke was still at National Magazines (now Media24), there was a Soweto spaza shop owner who consistently returned three out of his five copies of Drum, for a refund. When the publisher reduced distribution to this store, the owner complained bitterly.

"His pleas to have the five copies reinstated were based on the fact that he actually sold all five copies every month," she says. "He sold them with the promise however, that if they were returned within a week, in good condition, he would refund R1. A quick iron of the front cover, and they were ready to be sold again in week two, at a discount of R1, and the promise of a 50c refund if they were returned in good order. In the third week, he repeated the offer, but in week four, kept them back to return to the publisher and get a full refund!

"In terms of readers per copy, his five copies produced five readers in week one, five in week two, five in week three and probably two in week four. (He returned three so presumably some purchasers kept their copy along the way).

"That is 17 primary readers. If each household produced another four readers each, you get 17 X 4, plus the original 17 primary readers = 85 readers, all from a recorded 2 copies sold!" she says.

Clearly, magazines are more resilient that one might think, and the readership data from AMPS is not merely 'a guideline'. "While research like AMPS cannot provide empirical data, only statistically probable data, it is nonetheless accurate, and can be trusted to give the most probable picture of reality" concludes SAARF MD, Dr Paul Haupt.