Nielsen: More people in their 30s reading NST

MORE people between the ages of 30 and 39 are reading the New Straits Times (NST), the latest figures of the Nielsen Media Index show as of the end of December last year.

The readership for the age group of 30 to 39 had increased to 69,000 per issue in the January to December period last year from 46,000 in the corresponding period in 2011, a jump of 50 per cent.

Another notable fact is that at least one-third of NST readers are Chinese, as the Nielsen figures show that there was a 35 per cent increase to 73,000 Chinese readers per issue last year from 54,000 previously.

NST's readership among professionals, managers, executives and businessmen (PMEB) and the white-collar group also increased by 31 per cent to 144,000 readers in 2012 from 110,000 in 2011.

There were 78,000 readers per issue among PMEB and 66,000 among white-collar workers in 2012.

The readership of English dailies as a whole remains stable at 8.5 per cent in 2012 with 1.35 million readers, from 8.2 per cent in 2011. NST's readership was 236,000.

Meanwhile, the readership of Malay dailies fell to 32.9 per cent last year with 5.23 million readers per issue, from 35.5 per cent in 2011.

Harian Metro retains its lead among the Malay dailies at 21.1 per cent with a reach of 3.35 million readers.

Berita Harian remains stable with 6.6 per cent reach of 1.05 million readers.