Inquirer tops Bulletin, Star combined readership

The Philippine Daily Inquirer is the number one newspaper in the country for the third quarter, read by over 60% of the urban population in a new poll from Strategic Consumer and Media Incites Inc. (SCMI).Inquirer Research reports that two-thirds (66.8 percent) of SCMI’s respondents in Urban Philippines have read the broadsheet the day before or a whopping 1.01 million readers.This is more than the combined readership Manila Bulletin (603,000 readers) and the Philippine Star (370,000 readers). The Bulletin was read by 40% of respondents while the Star had 24.6%, which adds up to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.The bulk of Inquirer’s readership comes from Luzon with 649,000 (60.3%). In comparison, the Bulletin had 375,000 (34.8%) and Star with 323,000 (30%).Inquirer has a marked dominance down south, securing 49,000 readers (82.4%) in the Visayas. The Bulletin had 6,000 readers (60.3%) and the Star with 2,000 (3.4%). The streak continues in Mindanao, where the Inquirer accounted for 308,000 readers (83.4%), followed by Bulletin with 192,000 (51.9%) and Star, 45,000 (12.3%).The SCMI poll also noted that the Inquirer was much favored by readers from Class ABC1, or marketing shorthand for the middle class, read by 80,000 Filipinos (40.6%). The Bulletin was close behind with 77,000 (39.1%) readers and the Star with 65,000 (33.2%).The annual single-source study was conducted in the July –August period with 2,000 respondents aged 10 and above. SCMI claims that the Media Insight study had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2 percentage points.It covered Metro Manila and nearby areas Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Pampanga; the cities of Tuguegarao, Baguio, Dagupan, Cabanatuan, Olongapo, Batangas, Puerto Princesa, Naga and Legazpi in Luzon; Metro Cebu and the cities of Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete and Tacloban in the Visayas; and the cities of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, General Santos and Zamboanga in Mindanao.