DC Releases Nielsen survey numbers; few new readers, female readership declines

The results of the Nielsen Survey that DC did post reboot are in and the results are depressing. In an article on ICv2, DC’s Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Business Development John Rood outlined the results.

• Remember the idea of bringing in new readers? The survey found that new readers comprised just 5% of the survey.
• Female readers, which comprised about 8% of the readership in the last benchmark’s available from two decades ago, consisted of 7% of the survey. AHEM. Double AHEM. 
• The number of readers 13-18, generally considered the age where you need to get new consumers, was 2%

This was the biggest marketing push in the history of DC Comics. They rebooted books, redesigned costumes, bought advertising, gave co-op funds, and blanked the media with news of Lois and Clark’s divorce and Barbara Gordon’s return to the tights. And for what? The Source summed it up nicely:

The launch of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 galvanized the traditional fan base for superhero comic books: male readers, who were already—or have at one time been—comic book fans.

To quote the Talking Heads, “Same as it ever was.”