Times receives business lift

by John Reynolds, Media Week 02-Sep-08, 07:00

LONDON - Telegraph Media Group has fallen further behind rival Times Media in terms of the number of business executives that both read its print and online publications, according to figures from the 2008 British Business Survey seen by Media Week.

News of the findings, which will be officially unveiled tomorrow (Wednesday), follows TMG's decision to withdraw as a financial supporter of the Ipsos Mori survey, having claimed it lacked credibility.

TMG flagship newspapers The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph are thought to have experienced a drop in the number of business readers from the last survey, in 2005, of about 15,000 readers across both titles.

Meanwhile, the combined business readership of The Times and The Sunday Times remains nearly 150,000 ahead of TMG, despite it also suffering a fall in its number of business readers.

Guardian Media Group newspapers and the Financial Times have increased their number of business readers, the 2008 survey is expected to show. But their readerships will remain behind both TMG and Times Media.

TMG declined to comment.