The Hulton Readership Survey for 1952 is a remarkable, and
for those to whom statistics appeal, a quite fascinating, publication. It is meant primarily for advertisers, and is designed to show by what classes of reader, and what parts of the country, each of sixty selected publications (in which the weekly reviews are not included) are read. There are further divisions by age and sex, and even the habitual reading of drinkers of excisable liquors is noted. Take, as a service- able example, Punch. Consultation of the various tables shows that that notable journal is read by 3 per cent. of the population as a whole (this, of course, assumes several readers of each copy), by 13.3 of the highest income group, by 9.3 of the " middle class," by 4.3 of the " lower middle class " and by 1.5 of the residue. It is conceded that there may be a fair margin of error in some of these figures. Or take Hulton's own Picture Post. The figures here are 17.8 of all classes; 29 per cent. of Class A, 25.4 of Class B, 23.4 of Class C and 15.0 of the rest, which shows a remarkably even distribution. Actual circulations are not given, but the figures for daily and Sunday papers are interesting : national morning papers 29,530,000; all morning papers 32,890,000; national Sundays 33,600,000; all Sundays 34,400,000. These figures all show a slight, but a very slight, decrease on those for 1950.
Previous page
