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PUBLISHING: SOUTH AFRICA
Major shifts in media
Print continues to offer advertisers exposure to a discerning audience and readers a trustworthy source of information, writes JOSEPHINE BUYS.
Ad 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 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
2 million readers on average per month / 15 million page views / highly engaged audience / 71 000+ subscribers
As the LARGEST DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION NEWS SERVICE IN AFRICA, you can trust to bring you every story, every fact, every day
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tracker comparing 2019 to 2020 shows that news sites retained 30% more readers online.
The PRC’s pioneering FUSION research, which fuses multiple data sets to create more informed and insightful audience measurement research, proves that readers (vs viewers, listeners or glancers), continue to read. They are simply shifting their reading habits online.
While we celebrate the sustained migration of readers online, the truth is print now offers unique niche audiences of extremely valuable and loyal readers. People who continue to buy print titles are true brand fans, a select group that otherwise can be diffi cult for other media to reach. Now more than ever, print offers advertisers a targeted medium aimed at reaching discerning consumers.
Print has long been, and continues to be, recognised as a trusted, brand-safe environment for advertisers. In this age of misinformation and disinformation, I believe brand-safe media environments will become a priority for brands with integrity.
So, while readers such as me who still enjoy the tactile, uninterrupted enjoy the tactile, uninterrupted experience of our favourite experience of our favourite newspaper and magazine titles newspaper and magazine titles will continue to buy printed will continue to buy printed media, others, especially media, others, especially younger people, will continue to build their continue to build their relationships with their relationships with their Josephine favourite brands online. favourite brands online. Buys
With online marketing set to move marketing set to move from cookie-based behavioural targeting to contextual marketing to contextual marketing in the privacy age, publishers who have
print-ad-printready.pdf 1 2021/02/03 14:35print-ad-printready.pdf 1 2021/02/03 14:35 embraced the creation of excellent content across platforms will not only survive, but thrive as consumers cautiously emerge from lockdown into the next phase.
Readers are alive and well. Some are simply transitioning from paper to screen, while a signifi cant number switch between while a signifi cant number switch between print and digital platforms on a daily basis. print and digital platforms on a daily basis.
This means it’s all about trusted and This means it’s all about trusted and carefully crafted content, whether carefully crafted content, whether consumed in print or online. consumed in print or online.
Media and marketing pioneer Josephine Buys is CEO of the Publisher Research Council. Her diverse career has placed her at the forefront of embracing media in a variety of industries (and platforms), from publishing and entertainment to agencies and the public sector. Her experience spans sales, marketing, brand development and ecommerce. @jozib_sa