POST newspaper delivers consistent results over fifty-five years

Editor, Aakash Bramdeo is confident that the trend will continue into the fourth quarter. "Our consistent results are due to the fact we know our audience well - research has confirmed what they want to read and that people buy POST and read four out of six issues religiously."

"Bollywood and cooking are firm favourites. We have taken these topics and owned them. Each week we have a full page of Bollywood news, with an eight page insert at the end of each month."

"The recipe page is also popular, readers purchase POST to see MasterChef winner Deena Naidoo's weekly recipe column."

"To commemorate the three major religious holidays - Eid, Diwali and Christmas special recipe booklets are designed and inserted into POST. The recent Diwali booklet gave a spike to our sales of an extra 10 000 copies."

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When he took over the reins in 2010 Bramdeo introduced lighter news as well as an intellectual focus. "Readers don't want to be defined by their Indian-ness. They are keen to keep their culture, but it is not all that defines them. The POST has embraced modern lifestyle while keeping the Indian culture," he comments.

During 2012 a Facebook page was introduced. "The whole family reads our paper and we have many readers who use social media. It is important that we develop and use technology to reach all our readers."

"We get a good mix of comments from readers, older readers prefer handwritten letters, the middle aged use e-mails with younger audience posting Facebook comments or sms-ing through their thoughts. This feedback is important to ensure our content is relevant."

In addition, each issue is available in PDF format. The online version was introduced to interact with readers outside of the normal distribution network of Durban and Johannesburg.

"A decreasing proportion of our market is living in KZN," says Bramdeo. According to the 2011 Census, 59% of the 1.3m Indian/Asian population resides in KZN - down from 72% in 2001. "Our electronic extensions make it far easier for us to reach these readers."

The latest AMPS figures show that a remarkable 29% of all Indians in South Africa read POST and Census 2011 reveals our readers are affluent. The household income of Indians is R250 000 per annum, second only to the white market. Seventy percent of our readers fall into the LSM 7 - 10 bracket."

"POST has loyal readers, and those who are wealthy in South African terms. We provide advertisers with an audience who can afford to buy their brands."

Indians don't just eat curry, wear saries and spend their time at Temples and Mosques.

"I am South African, I speak English, I still eat curry and I have a brown skin, but I enjoy rugby and the movies and have many and varied interests - irrespective of race."

We are targeting a niche market of very loyal readers across a wide spectrum of decision makers - business, politics, community organisations, and households. Our readers all grew up with POST, even the wealthiest consider POST as their newspaper. "We are the Ouma Rusks of the Indian community."