Business people prefer 'Irish Times'

By Fiona Reddan

Irish Times

THE IRISH Times remains the most popular read for Irish business people, according to a new survey which found that almost 80 per cent of all respondents read the newspaper.

According to the Business Elite Europe 2008 survey, which was conducted among more than 5,000 business people in Ireland, 78.9 per cent of respondents read The Irish Times, which is consistent with the last time the survey was done in 2006.

The Sunday Times is the second-most popular business publication, growing its readership by 1.3 per cent among those surveyed to 58.3 per cent. In third place is the Irish Independent, which has seen its business readership fall from 56 per cent in 2006 to 52.4 per cent in this year's survey.

The Sunday Business Post increased its readership by 4.5 per cent, according to the survey, up to 52.1 per cent, while the Sunday Independent recorded a 3.7 per cent decline to 51 per cent; Business Finance recorded a 4.9 per cent drop down to 27.5 per cent. The Irish Mail on Sunday saw its business readership fall off considerably from 2006, declining by 7 per cent to 8.9 per cent.

Reporting a dramatic increase in business readership was the Evening Herald, with 23.4 per cent of respondents declaring that they read the paper, up from 12.5 per cent in 2006.

In a sign of the times, readership of Stubbs Gazette also saw a significant increase, climbing to 10.9 per cent from just 2 per cent in 2006.

Readership of The Irish Times was greatest in the sectors of advertising, marketing, public relations, printing, publishing and broadcasting, with 100 per cent of respondents reading the paper.

The survey also shows that irishtimes.com is the most popular business website in Ireland, with 70.1 per cent of respondents saying they have visited the site.

Of the 78.9 per cent of respondents who said they read The Irish Times, the average income was €264,435, with 51 per cent of readers who provided their income earning over €250,000. Of the paper's readers who provided their net worth, an average of €1.6 million was recorded and over 9 per cent were worth more than €7.5 million.