Newspaper Works: Online strategies paying off with readers

Posted by Leah McBride Mensching on February 15, 2010 at 5:49 PM

Newspapers today are multimedia brands that have positioned themselves strategically in the digital landscape, where news is currency and newspapers have a lot of it, according to new research from industry marketing body The Newspaper Works.

"Newspapers have become stronger and more relevant in the digital age with newspaper Web sites complementing print editions and enhancing the relationship between newspaper brands and their readers," the report states. Newspapers Today Part 2 is a follow-up to a previous report, released in 2007 by the industry body for Australian newspaper publishers.

Top findings include:

- Newspapers and their Web sites lead other mainstream media as being most "absorbing, dynamic and reputable

- 85 percent of people seek out news and entertainment content.

- 78 percent of people surveyed said newspaper Web sites give up-to-date coverage, while 60 percent said print newspapers "expanded their knowledge."

- Print is favoured for topics including time and money investments, such as real estate or autos, while Web sites give immediate updates in areas "where currency of information is important."

- Newspaper brands "share all the attributes of great traditional brands" like Nike, Apple, McDonald's and Cadbury.

- According to consumers, "newspaper brands compare favourably" to digital-only brands, like YouTube or Google.

It's also important to point out that newspaper Web sites are not cannibalising readers from print editions, according to the study.

"Although the survey's methodology did not explore how many people had given up one medium for the other, the Newspaper Works concluded that the combination of the two mediums had made newspapers more relevant and strengthened the medium," wrote The Sydney Morning Herald's Julian Lee and Kate Lahey.

People are also deliberately going to newspaper Web sites, not just surfing randomly for news, Brendan Hopkins, chairman of The Newspaper Works and chief executive of APN News & Media, told Lee and Lahey. "If we can keep the comfort factor there, keep the quality of our print products as high as they are and then keep giving people that surety of the brand, they'll go to it wherever it is - whether it's print, mobile or online."