The project was launched in 2006 in association with Joint Industry Committee for Regional Press Research (JICREG) and online auditor ABCe. It works by combining print readership data with audited web traffic data, survey information from a panel of more than 100,000 adults and statistical analysis and modelling.

The online and print data, which can be narrowed down to postcode location, is integrated using methodology developed by media planning software and consultancy Telmar.

Locally Connected’s first wave of data showed a 14% increase in circulation for local newspapers, especially among upmarket and core middle age groups.

The project was led by Lynne Anderson, communications director at the Newspaper Society, who said: “Both buyers and sellers were agreed on the need to move away from the historic focus on a newspaper’s paid circulation and towards a more meaningful measurement of total reach. Agency planners told us their clients were increasingly looking for multimedia solutions at a local level but that it was hard to convince them to invest without hard data to back it up.”