Inserts should be taken into Adex consideration

However, sold and free community papers are strategically increasing their advertising intake with great success for advertisers and marketers. No other media types come close to the 51% increase enjoyed by community newspapers as displayed in 2004 over the last comparative period. These figures exclude insert advertising.

"NAB's sales figures continue to climb adding testament to the medium's success and while Adex acknowledges that advertisers are increasingly drawn to advertising in community papers, it is a pity that it fails to take into account that a large proportion of our advertising is placed in highly effective inserts. If insert advertising was taken into account, advertising growth figures would easily be doubled," says Gill Randall, Joint Managing Director for the Newspaper Advertising Bureau (NAB).

Says Randall, "The popularity of community newspapers for many advertisers lies in the fact that they offer saturated reach of geographical areas, delivering targeted readers that are receptive to relevant advertising messages. Community newspapers are usually read at home, away from offices and stress filled environments. In addition, readers want specific information about their community, including advertising specials relevant to their area so that shopping trips and leisure activities can be pre-planned."

Gordon Patterson, MD of Starcom and Vice President of the ABC, concurs with Randall's sentiments that if the sizeable insert revenue was included, the recorded adspend for community newspapers would more than double. "Community newspapers are extremely effective in leveraging brand equity and they are increasingly appearing on media schedules to augment retail campaigns," says Patterson.

Apart from community newspapers, a significant exception to the rule that urban dailies and weeklies are declining in circulation are the geographically focused dailies, such as EP Herald in Port Elizabeth, Daily dispatch in East London and Natal Witness in Pietermaritzburg.

"It is our hope that a credited body such as Adex (Nielsens) will come up with a suitable way to measure the insert market in the not too distant future," concludes Gill.