Don’t Count Print Out! Why Newspapers and Magazines Are Essential To Your Media Mix

Lately it seems every article about newspapers or magazines is focusing on staffing cuts and tightening budgets. Despite the dour press releases and dire predictions there are still a multitude of reasons to advertise in print. Newspapers and magazines continue to show strong readership numbers across multiple demographic and psychographic profiles.

Print’s broad appeal can in part be attributed to its portability. Consumers bring their newspaper or magazine with them wherever they go – from home to work to travel. Print continues to be a strong part of the media mix making up nearly 40% of all advertising spends as of 2007. (Source: TNS Media Intelligence)

Magazines

Magazines are universally appealing with 85% of US adults 18+ reading magazines. (Source: MRI, Fall Study 2007) Most consumer magazines are generally targeted to niche markets with the largest categories including Entertainment and Celebrity, Clothing and Accessories, as well as Home Furnishings and Management. These niche categories allow advertisers to reach the specific demographic, psychographic, and ethnographic groups who are most likely to purchase their products or services.

Magazines are generally kept for a length of time and you will often see responses long after a new issue has come out. Lead times to get into magazines can be long with the average monthly publication requiring space 2–3 months in advance of the publishing date.

Magazine publishers have invested a significant amount of resources to broaden their appeal. In first quarter 2008 magazine websites reached 70.7 Million of unique visitors – a growth of 12% from 2007. (Source: Nielsen Online analysis of 345 magazine brands online) From 2004 to March 2008 the number of consumer magazine websites increased by over 53%. (Source: Oxbridge Communications, 2008)

Newspapers

Newspapers are targeted to the general consumer with intensive coverage of local and national events and news. Major daily newspapers reach on average 48% of adults each weekday and 54% on Sundays. Most US Adults 45+ read the daily newspaper with even higher readership on Sundays. In general newspaper readers have a higher education level and income level. (Source: Scarborough Research, 2007 Release2 – Top 50 Report)

Despite headlines of newspaper layoffs and cutbacks over the past several years, newspaper readership is rising. (Source: Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism: “The Changing Newsroom”) Newspapers are refocusing on local interests and news stories. This allows their advertising departments to devote more resources to local advertisers and create a unique feel to their publication.

Newspapers have devoted resources to increase their websites. As a result newspaper websites drew over 66.3 Million Unique Viewers on average in the second quarter 2008 – 40.2% of all Internet Users. This is an increase of over 12% from 2007. (Source: Nielsen Online Custom Analysis) Newspaper websites are often in the top 5 websites in each market.

Lead times for daily newspapers can be as little as 2 days allowing advertisers to cater their messages and react quickly to market changes. Weekly publication deadlines are generally about one week to ten days in advance. There are only a few national newspapers (USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and The Sunday New York Times). Therefore, newspaper ads must be bought on a market-by-market basis to efficiently reach consumers.

Summary

Print has faced and will continue to face significant challenges as digital media (e.g. internet, cellular data services, and other new technology) becomes more popular. Newspaper and magazines both have seen recent increases in their circulation and readership numbers as digital and online subscriptions are added. Despite challenges over the past several years, print is evolving, albeit slowly, to take advantage of these digital sources to attract younger consumers and to keep their existing customer base. Print remains a strong link to our lives and our communities. This connection is the primary reason to continue to consider print advertising as a strong part of the media mix.

Print Association Links

Magazine Publishers of America - www.magazine.org
Newspaper Association of America - www.naa.org

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Industry Topics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.