A database giving details of multimedia platforms linked to local papers has been launched by The Newspaper Society, in what it says is a crucial stage in its Portfolio Audience Project to develop a multimedia audience currency for the regional press.

The Media Portfolio Database allows advertisers to search for details of a range products, and is searchable by publisher, newspaper, media type and subject matter.

It currently holds details on more than 2,700 products, including 800 websites and 1,130 sections and supplements.

Many publishing groups have already added details, including Archant, CN Group, Guardian Media Group, Newsquest, Northcliffe, Johnston Press, Tindle and Trinity Mirror, and it is still being populated, with NS communications director Lynne Anderson saying the existing database might be the “tip of the iceberg”.

The database holds details such as the publication day and frequency of supplemements, as well as page impressions figures and unique visitors for websites. Officially audited figures will be added later.

Lynne said: “For the first time, advertisers and agencies are able to access detailed information on the rapidly-growing portfolio of media opportunities available from the regional press.

“This new database brings us a step closer to the launch of an industry-wide multimedia audience measurement system.”

The Portfolio Audience Project was launched last year by the NS, working alongside JICREG and ABC Electronic.

It aims to extend the JICREG regional press readership database to encompass regional press internet audiences and provide agencies and advertisers with a geographical system for analysing the combined net reach of a newspaper and its website within the newspaper’s circulation area down to postcode sector level.

The NS has commissioned Telmar to develop the methodology for integrating internet audience data with print readership data. This is planned to be incorporated into the JICREG readership database to provide combined audience analysis.

The Portfolio Audience Project will be presented to leading readership researchers at the Worldwide Readership Symposium in Vienna in October.

The audience research surveys to be used in the project provide national coverage of the UK, with an estimated combined sample size of over 100,000 adults – believed to be the largest research on internet usage available in the UK.

The project is also drawing from new internet audience research from survey.com, which has been commissioned by Trinity Mirror and other regional press groups.

Dick Dodson, managing director of Telmar Europe, said: “In today’s digital environment it is vital for regional newspapers to be able to market their full ‘brand’. The Portfolio Audience Project is designed initially to provide combined audiences measurement for newspapers and their internet sites.

“It is based on combining all the recent research from the regional newspaper industry that has measured both media – a list of some 270 surveys and in total some 100,000+ respondents.”