Readership

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A specific audience composed of individuals who consistently consume written content from a publication comprises its subscribers The community of habitual readers of any given text reflects the audience that engages with that literature This segment of the population marked by regular interaction with written works characterizes the engaged consumers of various publications
2. A collective of individuals who routinely enjoy written content from a particular source constitutes a distinct audience
3. The collective group of people who consistently follow and engage with a particular publication or author

Etymology: "Readership" is a plain compound: "reader" plus the suffix "-ship". The suffix is the more interesting half. It descends from a Proto-Germanic root meaning something like "shape" or "creation," the same root that gave English "shape" itself. Old English used "-scipe" (and related forms) to mean a state, condition, or quality, so a "lordship" was the state of being a lord, and "friendship" the state of being a friend. Attached to "reader," the suffix produces a collective sense: the body of people who read something, or the state of being a reader of a particular publication. "Readership" thus names a group defined by a shared activity rather than by any single person's act of reading. The same pattern gives "membership," "audience" in its collective use, and "leadership."

Synonyms: audience, subscription base