The resilient print sector: local newspapers
Local newspapers remain an invaluable source of hyper-local content for readers, and thus an invaluable medium for advertisers, writes BRITTA REID.
T
here is a sector of the newspaper market that deserves attention because its fortunes counter the dominant, doom-laden narrative about the demise of newspapers. Over the past two decades, paid daily and weekend newspapers had a dire time of it: the combined circulation of the 18 top dailies halved and the top 15 weekly titles dropped by more than two-thirds. Then the pandemic struck, curbing mobility, creating fear of contact and hurting pockets. The recent Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figures for October to December 2020 starkly reflected this impact on newspaper sales: dailies dropped by 38.1%,
Britta Reid
weekends by 36.1% and weeklies by 45.7% over the previous year. It is a gloomy picture, but it reflects only 22% of the newspaper market based on distribution, according to Robyn Bishop, head of marketing at Spark Media. In the second half of last year, she points out, an average of 4 812 788 local newspapers were still distributed regularly – 3.3 times the number of sold newspapers. Gareth Grant, business unit head at The MediaShop, opines that the good news story around local newspapers gets lost: the sales houses should take the opportunity to “make more of a song and dance about it”.
LOCAL AND FREE NEWSPAPERS – PRUNING AND GROWTH The bulk of local newspapers (97%) are based on the free subscription model, delivered directly to the reader’s home. Publishers have selected the communities they serve based on their economic attractiveness to advertisers, whose funding covers the costs of publishing, printing and distribution.
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IMAGE: SUPPLIED
THE BULK OF LOCAL NEWSPAPERS (97%) ARE BASED ON THE FREE SUBSCRIPTION MODEL, DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO THE READER’S HOME themediaonline.co.za
08.04.21 11:44
