Major shifts in media Print continues to offer advertisers exposure to a discerning audience and readers a trustworthy source of information, writes JOSEPHINE BUYS. advertising during the initial uncertainty and some long-standing print brands became early casualties. As the founding CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) prior to joining the PRC, I’m on record with my firm belief that print will not die; it will become niche and extremely valuable (just like vinyl records). I have also championed digital acceleration – and for the publishing sector, the pandemic became a catalyst for exactly that. The PRC produces the biennial Publisher Audience Measurement Survey, which
provides a reading currency to deliver an accurate measure of reading behaviour across multiple platforms. Before the pandemic we had already started seeing the migration of readers from paper to screen. During lockdown we embarked on producing an adspend and activity tracker to study shifts in adspend and consumer behaviour. This showed a massive surge in online readership at the beginning of lockdown, largely due to consumers seeking news on the pandemic and lockdown restrictions. While it levelled out somewhat, theYoY
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d Tracker research conducted by the Publisher Research Council (PRC) confirms that lockdowns acted as a catalyst for digital transformation across all media. It’s no secret print suffered in 2020. The sudden initial lockdown brought printing presses and distribution to a halt. Consumers, largely confined to their homes, were unable to buy their favourite reads and print circulations suffered as a result. Advertisers abruptly stopped
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2 million readers on average per month
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15 million page views
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highly engaged audience
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