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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:

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The Power To Grow Readership

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  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

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