Aust local newspaper study

This Australian study shows that community newspapers strongly influence local consumers, in particular, families.

Conducted by Clarity Research, the Get in with the Locals reader study provides quantitative and qualitative measures of reader engagement to shed light into how local newspapers are used when making purchasing decisions.

Key findings

How readers perceive local newspapers

Locals think their Local Newspaper is:

  • Honest - 58% 
  • Trustworthy - 57% 
  • Friendly or caring - 63% 
  • Down to Earth - 72% 
  • Informative - 72% 
  • Relevant - 74%


Reader engagement

Local papers have strong engagement measures with 79% of readers saying they read most issues or every issue and for an average time spent reading of 28.5 minutes.

Advertising effectiveness

Readers indicated that as a result of reading an ad in their local newspaper, they have:

  • Picked up new ideas on things to buy - 57% 
  • Gone online and looked at a website -  51% 
  • Added something to their shopping list -  47% 
  • Talked about the ad with friends or family - 50%


This gave a net score for raised consideration (using the above four actions) of 82%.

A net score of 74% was recorded for purchase influence, based on people who did any of the following as a result of reading an ad in their local newspaper:

  • Bought a product - 52% 
  • Went out and got a bargain - 41% 
  • Purchased from a store they didn't normally go to - 48% 
  • Tried a new brand - 33%


Methodology

The study was conducted across the five main Australian capital cities and consisted of a telephone survey of 750 people, and 6 focus groups. Phone survey respondents were randomly selected from within the distribution areas of News Community Media distribution areas to fit a nationally representative profile in terms of age and sex, and included both readers and non-readers aged between 18 and 65.

For more information about the research, download the 4-page summary below or read more at News Community Media.

April 2011


Get In with the Locals (354k, Acrobat (.pdf) format)

News Community Media research; 2010.