Recently I reviewed the Embedded World 2011 readership survey with a client and suddenly realised that the results show that the mean number of German electronics magazines that are read “on a regular basis” by German engineers is 2.4. The research just asked about mainstream electronics journals: excluding vertical titles, websites and publications in English, making a very compelling case for the effectiveness of German print publications.
Although there are inevitable problems in getting truly accurate readership numbers, the Embedded World study is generally recognised as being very good, and even if the number is only accurate to +/- 50%, this means that the average German engineer reads more than one journal on a regular basis, and could be reading well over three German print titles. Whilst the move to online publication is a trend that no country is likely to avoid, it’s clear that in Germany readers still love good, old-fashioned paper magazines!
