News

International media under the EMS spotlight

Print and TV are holding strong with the elite European business audience despite the complex media landscape, if this year’s EMS results are anything to go by.

A change in methodology to a mixed-mode method, taking in telephone interviews and online surveys failed to upset the status quo. Eurosport led MTV, as both continued to dominate the entertainment TV channels with a daily reach of 8.7% and 7.9%, respectively.

Sky News’ strong presence in the UK helped push it out front of the other news and business TV channels with a daily reach that peaked at 4.7%, while Euronews (3.9%) and CNN (3.3%) weren’t far behind.

In print, the Financial Times has retained its position as the most widely read daily paid-for title with a 1.6% share in the EMS and CEMS countries, the equivalent of an average readership of around 750,000 compared to free title Metro International's average of 2,936,000.

In the weekly category, Time’s 3.3% (1,542,000) edged out The New York Times Supplement by 0.1% and The Economist by 0.6%. Meanwhile, for monthlies Bloomberg Markets’ debut on EMS has shaken up the monthly sector after its 1% average readership put it slightly above CNBC Business.

As more media owners divert budgets into their online offerings, more emphasis promises to be placed on website output. The BBC World News’ website proved the most popular with daily reach peaking at 3.1%, amounting to almost 1.5 million users.

However, Eurosport still performed strongly bringing in 2.7% of the EMS and CEMS population and is followed by a clutch of news and business operators including CNN’s website (1.8%) and Sky News (1.8%).

On the print side, the FT boasted the most frequently-visited daily website with an average of 1.4%, which amounts to 663,000 users. Free title 20 minutes also performed well with 1.1%, along with the New York Times (0.9%) close behind.

A look at digital consumption habits with the Digital Life survey found accessing live TV through mobile is growing fast with 23.2% of those surveyed, just over 7% behind live TV through a computer. Meanwhile, around 14% of the top 3% Select audience write on a micro-blog service via their mobile, which rose nearly 2% to 15.9% across the entire survey.

EMS measures the media habits of Europe’s most affluent consumers and top business decision makers. 

M&M subscribers will be able to dissect the information in more depth across five pages in the Q3 issue, which is hitting desks this week.  

Josh Colley, London