With so much emphasis being placed on emerging media like YouTube and Facebook, it’s easy to forget that advertising has been around for hundreds of years. However, in the same way that the technology of the internet paved the way for social media advertising, the invention of the Gutenberg press facilitated the movement of newspaper advertising back in the 1600s. Now, before your minds travel back to an old episode of Leave it to Beaver, let me enlighten you: MediaWeek reports that newspapers still represent 10.7 percent of the dollars spent by advertisers in the United States!
So why are companies continuing to devote media budgets to display advertising in newspapers? Let me give you some statistics SRJ has complied:
- 54 percent of adults read a daily newspaper. (Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau)
- 62 percent of adults read the Sunday Edition. (Advertising Age)
- 55 million newspapers are sold daily and are read by an average of 2.3 people. (Advertising Age)
- Newspaper advertising expenditures in 2008 totaled 34.7 billion. (Advertising Age)
While it’s true that newspaper circulation has been down the last three years, newspaper still has several advantages that can give make it one of the best local mediums to drive your advertising message. Here are a few:
- Timeliness – An ad can appear very quickly, sometimes in just one day.
- Geographical Targeting – The majority of newspapers are local; therefore, it’s easy to target a select geographical area.
- Reasonable Cost – Newspaper tends to fit better into the media budget.
- An Active Medium – Readers turn the pages, clip and save, and sort through the contents.
I’m not here to debate whether or not newspapers will be around in 5, 10, 20 years. However, newspapers are part of history and we should take advantage of the ROI they can provide. Contact SRJ today for a free consultation on how display advertising in newspapers can be an effective role in an integrated marketing communications strategy that creates top-of-the-mind awareness for your brand!
