Readership Patterns

Reach and Frequency
The audience for newspaper advertising is stable since those who read the newspapers tend to do so consistently. Reach is high for the first advertisement and then grows slowly because of the stability of the Salt Lake newspaper audience. Most of the readers are with you from the first advertisement. On the other hand, frequency of an advertisement grows quickly -- almost one full point per insertion -- but the reason is the same; the stable audience following a reading routine that exposes them to your message repeatedly.

Note: Percentages based on a population of 602,500 adults age 18 or older.

Source: Media Audit, Sept. - Oct. 2000

Daily	Reach	Frequency
1 insertion	303,057	1.0
2 insertions	334,898	1.8
3 insertions	351,257	2.6
4 insertions	362,102	3.3
5 insertions	364,512	4.1

Sunday	Reach	Frequency
1 insertion	357,282	1.0
2 insertions	375,960	1.9
3 insertions	384,997	2.8
4 insertions	389,817	3.7

Personal Medium
"The secret of the newspaper...is that it is in practice a personal medium, used very differently by each customer. Newspapers rely on the intelligence of the reader. Although editors select and shape the matter to be delivered, readers choose, peruse, sort, queue and quaff the news and advertising copy at their own pace and volition .... Newspaper readers are not couch potatoes; they interact with the product, shaping it to their own ends."
- George Gilder Forbes ASAP; October 1993.

Color "Outsells" Black and White
A recent test of the sales effectiveness of ROP color ads presents convincing evidence that color moves more merchandise than black and white ROP newspaper advertising. In a multi-market study by seven papers testing 17 ads, the color ads outsold the same ads in black and white by 43 percent.

This readership study indicates that adults who said they generally read every page of the newspaper was 54 percent. This makes it possible for them to be exposed to any item of editorial or advertising content appearing in their daily newspaper's pages.

Future Purchases Attract Prospects
The people who pay the most attention to an advertisement are those thinking about buying that product. The same eye camera study found that readers have an incredible ability to sort through hundreds of advertisements in a newspaper and focus most carefully on the product they were getting ready to purchase.

Large Ads Draw More Attention
Size does affect the amount of attention given to an ad. Eye camera studies Confirm that larger advertisements -- those over a half page -- draw readers' attention for a longer period of time. However, that added time may come from people who are not in the market for your product, while a smaller advertisement may suffice if it has the right illustration or other device to grab the attention of the target market.

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