Newspaper advertising buyers have denied new data breaking down readership by section will lead to tougher negotiations over ad rates amid rapidly declining circulation and teetering revenue.

Yesterday, Roy Morgan published the first installment of its long-awaited sectional readership data, which shows that while most readers cast an eye over the first few pages of hard news, far fewer delve further into the book to read other sections like sport and business.

Before its release, the data was expected to lead to calls for publishers to give ground on sectional rates, carving a substantial amount from Australia’s annual $3.67 billion newspaper advertising spend. That figure was already under pressure from falling circulation and debate over the thousands of discounted papers handed out each day to students and commuters.

However, Ikon Communications managing partner Ben Willee denied a crackdown is looming, at least in the short term: “The cynics will say that this data will be used by media agencies to try and drive down newspaper rates. Not necessarily so.”

He says there has always been a more flexible approach to sectional pricing and the company isn’t going to ask for its money back. The firm could now “add science to our planning”, he said, adding Ikon is delighted with the “robust and well considered work from Roy Morgan”.

“For example, if we have a better understanding of the audience we can achieve a better result for our clients and in the long run that’s a better result for newspapers because those advertisers will keep coming back,” he said.

The new data breaks down readership into 22 sections for 25 national and major metropolitan newspapers. According to Morgan, readers across all mastheads excluding The Australian Financial Review take a good look at the front news section (86%). But the next most popular topics such as sport (45%) and holidays and travel (44%) score under 50%.

The op-ed pages come in at about 37-38% while sections like food, real estate and property, gardening, music and book reviews score just 30-32%. Only 23% of non-Fin readers bother consulting the business section.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Roy Morgan also boasts a score measuring the depth of engagement, offering the case study of The Weekend Australian in which 61%, or 223,000 of the section’s readers, opt to read that section. In the case of The Daily Telegraph, half as many readers look at the form guide compared to the movie reviews but the level of engagement of racing fans is much stronger.

The data (the full report can be read here) is also helpfully broken down into male and female categories, with fashion and beauty attracting women while men apparently prefer cars, computers and business.

Media Federation of Australia executive director Carol Morris says many mastheads such as News Limited’s Daily Telegraph already employed tiered rate cards, but that new metric “would provide greater transparency and usability of the data”.

“We applaud RMR for bringing this information to the market,” she said. “The industry has been asking for this information for many years now so we have no doubt that it will be well received by the industry.

“Sectional readership is only one element of the evaluation process and clearly relevance of environment and reader engagement are also just a few of the other vital considerations that need to be made. So the addition of this database allows for a deeper understanding of the reader experience and it strengthens the ability to make more informed decisions.”

Director of Research at Mitchell & Partners, John Alderton, told Crikey the data will “open a new perspective on newspapers and how to use them more effectively for strategic communications and effective targeting”.

But Alderton remains coy on the cost implications, saying only that “all research data is helpful in helping to optimise client value”: “It is much too early to say until we start using the data and understand it fully.”

Newspaper Works CEO Tony Hale, whose organisation is funded by the major publishers, says the industry is preparing to launch its own readership measure through Morgan rival Ipsos MediaCT. Hale denies a more granular approach will lead to more pressure on newspapers to slash ad rates.

“Most rate cards are already developed on a discounted fee basis. The impact will really be judged and assessed by the individual publishers,” he said, adding there remains “great value for readers in all parts of the newspaper.”

The Ipsos measure, which was developed in the wake of an ugly brawl with Roy Morgan last year over claims it wouldn’t be independent, will provide far richer information on the level of engagement for advertisers. Hale says the metric will be firmed up “towards the end of the year” following the conclusion of pilot testing.

Roy Morgan declined to bid for the Newspaper Works contract, believed to be worth millions of dollars annually.

Last year, Crikey revealed that 40,000 discounted copies of The Age were being sent to universities and schools each day that were not disclosed to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which is on the verge of changing its definition of what constitutes a paid sale.