Research is invaluable in this industry. Lynne Krog takes us through the latest ROOTS findings, in a story published in The Media magazine.
Cape Town is one of the most online connected cities in South Africa, showing a high incidence of Internet usage for Facebook or Myspace, with many who have household buying power going online to search for information.
This is a fraction of the information revealed by ROOTS, one of South Africa’s largest urban research surveys (over 23 000 interviews), conducted by TNS Research Surveys on behalf of Caxton every second year.
While AMPS data details media consumption of newsprint and weekly magazines on a national level, ROOTS is able to get down to grassroots level, giving media buyers, planners and others the bigger picture. To do this, TNS selects 125 communities across South Africa and, from random samples, finds the person responsible for household purchase decisions (PDMs) to be interviewed about various factors including income, shopping habits, media consumption, gender, race and age.
Media consumption
In general, average issue readership of community papers has increased from 68% to 69% of all decision makers in the researched areas nationally – from approximately 2.85 million PDMs to 3.11 million PDMs.
Internet usage – those going online weekly or more often – has increased exponentially from 15% to 23% nationally. In 10 areas it is actually 50% or more, the highest being 62% in Bedfordview and Edenvale.
The Sunday Times, the biggest national paper, has dropped from 16% PDM readership in 2007 to 12% in 2009, and from 656 000 PDM readers in 2007 to 564 000 in 2010.
The most widely read weekly magazine, You went from 9% to 7% – essentially from 364 000 PDM readers to 315 000. The most popular daily paper Daily Sun increased from 11% to 12% – from 468 000 to 543 000 of PDMs.
The research found that the number of people reading community newspapers is on a par with – if not more than – what it was in 2004. For example, community papers in Ekurhuleni (East Rand) reach 78% of all decision makers living in the area (approximately 299 000 people). In 2007, they reached 73% (approximately 225 000 PDMs). This is 33% more PDM readers than they had three years ago.
Also, people have come to rely on the community newspapers advertising inserts as a source of information. Using Ekurhuleni as an example, 51% of PDMs say that they browse through or ‘window shop’ the inserts. Another 44% only look when they need something, and just 4% say they don’t bother.
In terms of how and if PDMs use their local papers, ROOTS found:
– 90% find their local newspaper useful/very useful
– 67% of PDMs use the paper within seven days
– 50% read all or most of their community newspaper
– 60% have read the past four out of four issues.
Community newspaper readers search for:
– Homes to rent/buy 10%
– Lawyers/accountants 10%
– Health and fitness 16%
– Small businesses, plumbers, electricians 25%
– Restaurants 11%
– Special events 25%
– Sports clubs/fixtures 11%
– Cars/motor vehicles 16%
– Domestic workers 7%
The wealthiest
In terms of household income, 58% of Sandton homes earn more than R25 000+ household income per month, followed closely by 56% of Pretoria East homes earning the same amount. Increasing the amount to a figure of R51 000+, 14% of Pretoria East homes boast this income, followed by 13% of Sandton homes.
When it comes to living standard measures, some of you may be surprised to see that 89% of Bedfordview and Edenvale homes are LSM 9 and 10 and 88% of Somerset West homes fall into the same bracket.
Advertising and retailers
ROOTS has proven that inserts have become a weekly reference point for shopping information. Consumers are convenience-driven, but not loyal to retailers. They pre-plan their purchases and want as much choice and range as possible. Consumers also shop at different times of the day, week or month.
In today’s unpredictable economic environment, these fundamentals are stronger than ever, and being visible and available to all existing and potential shoppers/buyers every week is critical for the survival and success of any retail operation.
The insert formula works and keeps customer’s feet coming through the doors of retailers. Below are some of the relevant findings to support the statements.
On average, 77% of PDMs prefer advertising leaflets to be delivered inside their community paper.
[We will run part two of this story, looking at technology in the home, tomorrow.]
The ROOTS 2010 data is available free of charge to retailers, marketers, media planners and strategists, and is on Telmar systems. For more information, contact NAB at 011 889 0610 or visit www.nab.co.za.
Lynne Krog is senior manager of Caxton CTP’s central intelligence unit, a division of The Newspaper Advertising Bureau (NAB).
