The 17th edition of the British Business Survey found that 45% of the 3,500 people surveyed read The Times, Sunday Times or the Times Online website at least once a week.
Today's findings mark the first time that the survey -- which is widely used by media agencies and owners looking to target the B2B market -- has counted the cross-media reach of news groups across both print and the web.
The second-ranked newspaper brand was the Mail, with 43.2%. The Associated Newspapers title has seen a 57% year-on-year increase in traffic to its website network, which includes financial news site ThisIsMoney.co.uk, according to official data from ABCe.
The Financial Times and , which have won a string of awards in the past year for their coverage of the unfolding economic downturn, came in fifth place with 21.2%, behind the Telegraph (27.2%) and the Guardian (22.5%).
Among the eight quality and mid-market dailies included in the survey, The Independent was the least read by the business community, with 15.9% of respondents sampling the newspaper or website in a typical week.
It was beaten by the Express in seventh place (17.4%) and the London Evening Standard in sixth (18%). The red-top tabloids are not included in the research.
The best-read weekly magazine, according to the survey, was The Economist, which reached 10.3% of respondents, up from 8.7% in 2005 when the last report was published.
Other popular titles included the Sunday Times Travel Magazine (21.2%), National Geographic (11.1%) and the British Airways contract title High Life (11.8%).
Private Eye, the fortnightly satirical news magazine that frequently publishes scoops and investigations from the business world, was read by 9.8% of businesspeople.
Despite growing uncertainty in the UK economy, the Ipsos Mori research found the number of businesspeople earning six-figure sums continues to grow -- 14% of respondents now earned more than £100,000, compared with 9% three years ago.
The British Business Survey, which is supported by the FT, Guardian, News International and The Economist, was based on interviews with 3,567 businesspeople between the end of last October and mid-April 2008.
Magazines
Times comes top of business news brand survey
LONDON - The Times has been crowned the most popular newspaper brand among British businesspeople by a new Ipsos Mori poll published today.
.jpg)
.jpg)