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Hot on the heels of the release of ground-breaking research into the growth potential of community newspapers, Ads24 has produced an innovative infographic portraying the Western Cape research findings.
The results of the research, labeled Compass24, revealed that:
· societies are becoming more community-focused;
· community newspapers are becoming a differently relevant advertising medium; and
· community-centricity implies a different attraction to community newspaper titles
Linda Gibson, Ads24’s CEO, says that the Compass24 initiative was prompted by a widespread advertising industry perception that alternative long-term growth mediums need to be identified in order to develop effective marketing strategies for the years ahead.”
Gibson maintains that media planning for community papers needs to be carefully structured and supported by tools similar to those employed for mainstream papers.
“It has been proven time and again that return on investment for mainstream papers impact sales directly. For community papers there is no continuous planning tool enabling planning and positioning. This is why we embarked on the Compass24 project.”
She is confident that Compass24 will provide reliable and current reach figures for community papers; statistics embedded in a broader consumption context.
“It’s a context that will enable more informed planning for advertisers, making it less of an intuitive process that is the case at present. The ultimate aim is to create a sophisticated, scientific tool able to support and justify the credibility of community paper ad-spend.”
Compass24 researched communities in the Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Northern Cape and North West. Ads24 will be rolling out the results to these regions over the next few months, starting with the Western Cape – hence the info-graphic, the highlights of which include:
· the Western Cape community paper reading community is 1,8 million people or 52% of the province’s population;
· 94% live in formal urban areas and 91% are LSM 6+;
· 72% prefer advertising in the newspapers to knock-and-drop publications;
· 62% are aged between 20 and 49; and
· 29% have accessed the internet over the past 12 months. | 
