R605 million spent on community newspapers

If there was ever a doubt in marketers' minds as to the power of advertising in community newspapers, the latest AdEx figures have definitely quashed them. According to AdEx, community newspapers have enjoyed the highest increase in ad spend across all media types this past year. A hefty R605 million was spent on advertising in community newspapers, which translates into a massive 51% increase.

Looking at the past five years, community newspapers have also outstripped competitive media types with an ad spend growth of 112%.

In comparison, AdEx indicates the percentage increases and advertising revenues for the other major media types during the past year as follows: television 22%; radio 15%; print daily 11%; print weekly 22%; magazines 8% and outdoor 20%.

"None of the other media types come close to the 51% increase enjoyed by community newspapers," says Joint Managing Director for the Newspaper Advertising Bureau (NAB), Gill Randall. "In addition, Media Inflation Watch (MIW) shows community newspapers to be the only media category to have kept in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the past five years in terms of rates and audience delivery.

"The reason for this phenomenal growth is simple and proves that ads in community newspapers provide advertisers with an excellent and measurable response. This type of advertising is cost effective, targeting consumers by region and reaches consumers at a time when they are open to planning their next local shopping trip or leisure activity and are looking for good deals. In addition there is a substantial family influence on purchase decisions in the home environment, where community newspapers are read," explains Randall.