1 / 58

The Power To Grow Readership

The Power To Grow Readership The Impact Study A joint venture of NAA, ASNE, Readership Institute % Newspaper Readership Among The Adult Population Source: Newspaper Association of America Readership Trends The Moment Is Unique ABC changes open major opportunities: Report readership

Gabriel
Download Presentation

The Power To Grow Readership

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The PowerTo Grow Readership The Impact Study A joint venture of NAA, ASNE, Readership Institute

  2. % Newspaper Readership Among The Adult Population Source: Newspaper Association of America Readership Trends

  3. The Moment Is Unique • ABC changes open major opportunities: • Report readership • Establish a variable-priced strategy • Count bulk sales • Grow pass along • Look at USA Today’s experience

  4. This Time Is Also Unique Because of 9-11 • For the moment, consumers have a deeper and closer connection to their newspaper because of 9-11 • History says the connection will not last • Backsliding can be stopped if you give readers new reasons to stay with your paper • RI (Readership Institute) provides insights & tools to develop that connection

  5. Measuring Readership • RI measured readers’ usage of their newspaper on weekdays and weekends • Readership is: • Time spent • Frequency • Completeness • RI rolled those dimensions into a single Reader Behavior Score (RBS) for each consumer

  6. Measuring Readership, cont. • Newspapers can easily add RBS to their current reader survey measures • Follow RI standards • (See paper at www.readership.org) • Track the success of content, service and brand initiatives • Compare your newspaper to industry norms, similar markets etc.

  7. 4 Cornerstones and Imperatives • The Impact study yielded “Eight Imperatives” for growing readership • Each imperative fits into one of the “4 Cornerstones” of readership growth

  8. 4 Cornerstones of Readership • Newspapers have tremendous opportunities to grow readership through improvements in the 4 cornerstones of: • - Content - Brand • - Service - Culture • 4 are linked to each other • 4 must be tackled together

  9. Readership Growth 4 Cornerstones • Content • 9 types of content grow readership • So does a particular kind of local news • Content that is “easy to read” & navigable • Content that is promoted • Advertising content • Service excellence • Brand relevance • Constructive culture

  10. The Four Cornerstones of Readership • Content • Service • Brand • Culture

  11. Content That Grows RBS Topics with greatest potential to grow readership • News about ordinary people, community announcement, obituaries • 2. Health, home, food, fashion & travel • Politics, government, international • 4. Natural disasters & accidents • 5. Movies, TV & weather • 6. Business and personal finance • 7. Science, technology, environment • 8. Police & crime • 9. Sports

  12. Content & Increased Satisfaction

  13. Content & Increased Satisfaction

  14. Content & Increased Satisfaction

  15. Post 9-11 • Within the 9 topics, these three have the greatest potential: • News about ordinary people, obits and community announcements • Health, home, food, fashion & travel • Politics, government, international • They embody a mix of hard & soft news that readers seek • #1 and #3 are what made newspapers post 9-11 special • Interest in foreign news has always been present – as long as newspapers made it relevant

  16. Post 9-11 • Hard-hitting, moving stories about ordinary people made newspapers come alive • Unfortunately, those reports are disappearing, replaced by “institutional” stories • There is renewed emphasis by consumers on family, home, “nesting” and health • These types of stories are important to growing readership

  17. About Obituaries • RI identified many common practices among newspapers with high satisfaction ratings • Full report at: www.readership.org

  18. Change Writing Style • It isn’t enough to have the right story topics • Many readers are turned off by the inverted pyramid writing style that is used in 70% of your paper’s stories

  19. What Are Some Writing Styles That Work? • Feature-style • Beginning, middle, end • Characters tell the story • Engages, connects • Commentary • Author’s voice • (Reviews, columns, first-person)

  20. Create an ‘Easy to Read’ Newspaper • “Easy to read” means: • The newspaper is relaxing to read (This does not mean brain candy) • “It’s easy to find what I’m looking for”

  21. ‘Easy to Read’, cont. • More “go-and-do” information • More stories about health, home, fashion, food • More feature-style stories • More in-paper content promotion

  22. Advertising Content Better ad content drives overall newspaper readership • Required Actions: • Learn which ads drive your readership • Get those ads • Make readership a responsibility of the ad department

  23. Advertising Content • Ad content has the third-highest potential to grow readership • It is even more significant for • Readers under 35 • Hispanics & African-Americans

  24. Example: A Strategy Targeting Young Women (25-34) • Get more ads that appeal to them • Special pricing • Ads should be exemplary • Best location • Active promotion of the ads • Make advertising, marketing, & news responsible for coordinating efforts

  25. In-paper Content Promotion Create an aggressive plan for in-papercontentpromotion • Required Actions: • Concentrate first on upcoming content; then same-day content • Make one person accountable

  26. Heavy Skimmer Selective Sunday heavy Light Sunday heavy only Weekday only Sunday light Nonreader 9 Types of Readers

  27. #2 #1 Average Daily In-Paper Promotion Focus on these & in this order

  28. Execution • In winter 2002 check the Readership Institute website www.readership.org for a preliminary report on what works

  29. The Four Cornerstones of Readership • Content • Service • Brand • Culture

  30. The Service Cornerstone Newspapers that deliver what their customers consider service excellencehave higher RBS, but the bar is very high

  31. 6 Service Factors that Drive RBS • Condition/completeness of delivered paper • Quality of paper, ink, type size • When, how paper is delivered • Accuracy of bill • Cost of home delivery • Overall customer service

  32. Over-the-top service yields big rewards RBS Industry average 4.25 Service Achieve Service Excellence

  33. For Further Study • Close link between service and content • Older readers more susceptible to service issues than younger readers • “Bare bones” vs. innovative model • Importance of excellent service recovery • Importance of publisher’s role and attitude

  34. The Four Cornerstones of Readership • Content • Service • Brand • Culture

  35. The Brand Cornerstone Develop a strong newspaper brand • Drives RBS as much as content • Brand is a strong, positive image that is relevant to the reader • Required Actions: • Understand & define your brand • Enhance and strengthen it

  36. Relevance Content: News & Adv. Brand Perception Service Excellence Readership Brand Model RBS

  37. Some Key Brand Ideas • Build a brand in the minds of your readers that: • Is based on a few strong, positive and relevant characteristics • Differentiates your newspaper from the competition • In RI sample we found only six newspapers that have a strong brand • Brand isn’t a paper’s tag line or flag • It is what consumers think it is and not what the newspaper says it is

  38. Brand Perceptions that Drive RBS

  39. The Four Cornerstones of Readership • Content • Service • Brand • Culture

  40. The Culture Cornerstone To grow RBS: Tear down defensive culture and replace it with a constructive one • Required Action: • Begin to grow readership as a sustained initiative • Promote those who will lead initiative & involve staff cross-departmentally

  41. Who Are Newspapers Like?

  42. Who Are Newspapers Like?

  43. Adaptive Change-resistant Group achievers Individual gain Collaborative Insular Outward-looking Internal focus Not a sin to fail Don’t fail Constructive vs. Defensive

  44. Department Over-all Culture Primary style Secondary style Advertising Marketing Circulation News- Editorial Top Execs Passive/ Defensive Passive/ Defensive Aggressive/ Defensive Aggressive/ Defensive Constructive Perfectionistic Avoidance Oppositional Perfectionistic Humanistic Conventional Perfectionistic Perfectionistic Oppositional Achievement Culture by Newspaper Departments

  45. Defensive Cultures • Departments work separately in silos • There’s little teamwork or cooperation within or between disciplines • Employees are not proud of the overall quality of the newspaper and its services

  46. Constructive Cultures • Departments and individualsare achievement-oriented • “We work together (across silos) for the good of the paper” • A more satisfied staff • Higher RBS

  47. Moving to a Constructive Culture • It’s a leadership issue • Leaders must model, encourage and reward these styles • Requires leaders to step outside the current culture • See clearly what must change • Assess whether the right people are in right place to do it • Be prepared to commit to it long-term

More Related