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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
12. Evaluation of Print
Media
or prefer to read them in more traditional form. As the presence of magazines online
grows, the industry will also have to address important issues regarding audience measurement
and how to determine consumers’ exposure to and interactions with online
advertising. Advertising on the Internet is discussed in Chapter 15.
Newspapers, the second major form of print media, are the largest of all advertising
media in terms of total dollar volume. In 2002 an estimated $44 billion was spent on
newspaper advertising, or about 22 percent of the total advertising expenditures in the
United States. Newspapers are an especially important advertising medium to local
advertisers, particularly retailers. However, newspapers are also valuable to national
advertisers. Many of the advertising dollars spent by local retailers are actually provided
by national advertisers through cooperative advertising programs (discussed in
Chapter 16). Newspapers vary in terms of their characteristics and their role as an
advertising medium.
Types of Newspapers
The traditional role of newspapers has been to deliver prompt, detailed coverage of
news as well as to supply other information and features that appeal to readers. The
vast majority of newspapers are daily publications serving a local community. However,
weekly, national, and special-audience newspapers have special characteristics
that can be valuable to advertisers.
Daily Newspapers Daily newspapers, which are published each weekday, are
found in cities and larger towns across the country. Many areas have more than one
daily paper. Daily newspapers are read by nearly 60 percent of adults each weekday
and by 68 percent on Sundays. 28 They provide detailed coverage of news, events, and
issues concerning the local area as well as business, sports, and other relevant information
and entertainment. Daily newspapers can further be classified as morning,
evening, or Sunday publications. In 2002 there were 1,468 daily newspapers in the
United States; of these, 48 percent were evening papers and 52 percent morning.
There were also 913 Sunday newspapers, most of which were published by daily
newspapers.
Weekly Newspapers Most weekly newspapers originate in small towns or
suburbs where the volume of news and advertising cannot support a daily newspaper.
These papers focus primarily on news, sports, and events relevant to the local area and
usually ignore national and world news, sports, and financial and business news. There
are nearly 8,000 weekly newspapers published in the United States, and they have an
average circulation of close to 6,000. Weeklies appeal primarily to local advertisers
because of their geographic focus and lower absolute cost. Most national advertisers
avoid weekly newspapers because of their duplicate circulation with daily or Sunday
papers in the large metropolitan areas and problems in contracting for and placing ads
in these publications. However, the contracting and scheduling problems associated
with these papers have been reduced by the emergence of syndicates that publish them
in a number of areas and sell ad space in all of their local newspapers through one
office.
National Newspapers Newspapers in the United States with national circulation
include USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Christian Science Monitor.
All three are daily publications and have editorial content with a nationwide appeal.
USA Today, which positions itself as “the nation’s newspaper,” has the largest circulation
of any newspaper in the country, at 2.3 million copies a day. The Wall Street Journal
sells over 1.8 million copies a day and is an excellent means of reaching
businesspeople. National newspapers appeal primarily to large national advertisers
and to regional advertisers that use specific geographic editions of these publications.
For example, The Wall Street Journal has three geographic editions covering 18
regions in which ads can be placed, while USA Today offers advertisers the opportunity
to run ads in its national edition or any of 25 regionals.
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
Newspapers
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Chapter Twelve Evaluation of Print Media