Newspapers remain important medium for advertisers

MANILA, Philippines - Newspapers remain an important medium for advertisers despite of the two-percent decline in readership, a survey by an international survey group showed.

Synovate executive director Steve Garton said that for advertisers, especially those buying high involvement products like vehicles, consumers still look at newspapers for advertisements. The survey was conducted from August 2009 to June 2010.

“Newspapers are not dead. They continue to play an important role,” Garton said. At the same time however, he admitted that there was a two-percent decline in newspaper readership when compared to the previous quarter.

The decline in readership, he said, came from the lower social groups because the higher social classes have retained their relationship with newspapers.

Unfortunately, Garton was not able to answer whether the decline in the readership had an adverse impact on the number of advertisements in newspapers.

One of the biggest competitors of the print media is the Internet. The younger people have already switched to online news. Garton said the print media can serve as a portal to meet the needs of the younger generation in order to compete with the Internet.

For the newspapers to co-exist with the internet, Garton said that the online content must be different from the print publication. The print must have more depth, he said. In order to attract the younger readers, Garton said newspapers must build their online content.

Of the people who read the newspapers, 25 percent to 33 percent go online in order to read further. Garton advised newspapers and publications to build their younger audience online. “Don’t ever abandon the print medium because it commands the most discriminating people who are capable of buying upscale things.”

For the middle income group, Garton said these people watch television less but use the Internet and read publications more. “The tri media drives the online behavior.”

Garton said the problem in the Philippines is that the Internet penetration is only 33 percent. Only 52 percent of the Filipinos have internet access at home, 50 percent use the internet café and 14 percent use the Internet at the workplace.