Method for determining number of readers per copy of a magazine circulation

Abstract

Starch's method of determining the number of readers per copy of a magazine is criticized because of the assumption that there is only one household per copy. A method of measurement which avoids this assumption is proposed. The method involves (1) determining by controlled sampling the percentage of adults in the area who are readers of the magazine, (2) dividing the adult population by the circulation for the area, and (3) multiplying the percentage found for (1) by the number obtained for (2). This method takes into account the fact that a copy may be passed along from one household to another. The two methods were applied to the same area containing an adult population of 7,581,445, in which 1447 readers were found in the sample interviewed. Starch's method yielded 3.08 as the average number of adult readers in a producing household, whereas the authors' method yielded 6.99 as the average number of readers per copy. Multiple readership outside the household is more important than multiple readership within the household. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)