The Straits Times remains the most-read daily newspaper in Singapore, with its combined print and digital editions reaching a third of the population aged 15 and older.
That translates to 1.26 million people reading it every day.
ST, which is published by media group Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), is primarily read by higher- income groups, with 75 per cent of its readers coming from homes with a monthly household income of $5,000 and above.
Half - 49.9 per cent - of its readers are professionals, managers, executives and businessmen (PMEBs), according to this year's Nielsen Singapore Media Index Report released yesterday.
The annual study polled 4,683 people aged 15 and above between July last year and June this year.
This was before ST's print and digital redesign was launched on July 1 this year, timed to celebrate the newspaper's 170th anniversary.
Said Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez: "All of us at ST are grateful that our readers continue to read us, in print and online, for their news and information needs.
"Our recent redesign of all our products was aimed at serving readers in an even more engaging way. Feedback on this has been good, and we hope to continue to keep, and grow, our readership."
The Nielsen study found that ST's print and digital readership has a combined daily average reach of 30 per cent. The print edition is read by 23.8 per cent of the adult population, and the digital version by 9.5 per cent.
In the previous year's study, ST's combined penetration rate was 32.4 per cent.
Nielsen said the consumption of daily news remained a "predominant part in the lives of the adult population", with the combined readership of print and online newspapers reaching more than six in 10 adults in Singapore.
It added that printed newspapers continue to be a staple read for most Singapore adults, while digital newspapers were also well perceived. Nielsen also found that daily Internet usage hit 76.2 per cent of the population.
The New Paper, another SPH English publication, has a combined print and digital average daily readership of 7.4 per cent of the adult population.
SPH's other English title, The Business Times (BT), has a combined print and digital readership of 1.5 per cent, with PMEBs comprising 77 per cent of its total readers. More than nine in 10 BT readers have a monthly household income exceeding $5,000.
SPH's Malay-language Berita Harian had a combined readership of 4.3 per cent, while Tamil-language Tamil Murasu had 0.9 per cent. The latter was read by 9.3 per cent of Indians in Singapore.
Bilingual MyPaper, also published by SPH and distributed free, had a combined readership of 5.7 per cent.
English freesheet Today, which is published by MediaCorp, has a combined print and digital readership of 12.6 per cent.
SPH's Lianhe Zaobao was Singapore's top Chinese-language paper with a combined daily readership of 11.4 per cent. The media group's Shin Min Daily News had 8.8 per cent readership while Lianhe Wanbao's penetration was 8.5 per cent.
