Study finds advertising locally is more effective

MBOMBELA – Where should you be spending your advertising budget? Should you consider traditional print media or digital, local or national?
New research shows that readers see online adverts on regional press websites as “more trustworthy and relevant” than those on their national counterparts, making it the logical, cost-effective and more targeted route to follow for small businesses or entrepreneurs.
“While daily newspapers in South Africa (and the rest of the world) have already suffered major losses in circulation and advertising revenue, the community newspaper industry has been able to maintain its market share. Lowveld Media’s digital presence has more than doubled in the past three years with visitors to our group of local news sites now recording more than 400 000 page views per month. Even in a national context this readership will be viewed as extensive. Yet, notwithstanding this growth into a new market, we have been able to maintain our print publications’ circulation figures,” says Ms Irma Green, national group editor of Caxton Local Newspapers.
More than 3 000 people took part in the study and it found that advertisers on regional sites were considered 17 per cent more relevant and 19 per cent more trustworthy when compared to national ones. This research was conducted by the UK analytics company comScore, in association with 1XL, the digital advertising platform founded last year by more than 20 regional newspaper publishers including Newsquest, Johnston Press and Local World.
The findings further included, “Almost half of those surveyed stated the ads on regional sites prompted them to try new products and services – some 20 per cent higher than national newspaper sites. Local media sites were also shown to be more effective than national newspaper sites, generating a 31 per cent increase in the number of people reporting they were likely to visit a store and a 27 per cent increase in number of people likely to purchase a product in response to viewing an ad.
The study was conducted among a representative sample of 3 300 UK consumers, with an even split between those who visit local news content and those who don’t.
Mr Scott Gill, managing director of 1XL, said, “Intuitively it makes sense that advertising in a regional title, specifically focused on someone’s local area, would be perceived as more relevant for a typical reader than a national title. However, this study shows that consumers’ response to local media advertising goes far beyond this – with local ads considered significantly more trustworthy and more likely to generate a purchase than national newspaper equivalents.”
Mr Toby Crisp, director of data services at comScore added, “Our research makes clear the fact that those brands which predominately focus on national advertising could be missing a trick. In a misguided attempt to maximise the number of people viewing their ads, it’s likely they are missing out on more trusted, more relevant and more effective advertising.”
Source: https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2015/news/ads-on-local-press-sites-more-trustyworthy-than-nationals-new-study-claims/