Weeklies

Alternative newsweeklies welcome ads from industries that may have difficulty finding a place in other media. However, the flip side of such an openhanded ad acceptance policy is a glut of ads for liquor and tobacco companies and adu businesses – a group some advertisers may feel uncomfortable joining.

Daily newspapers are not attracting younger readers as much as in years past. So how are those younger readers spending their print media time? Chances are, it’s with an alternative newsweekly. These weekly papers are often the only alternative to the leading daily paper in a given market, and many consider themselves watchdogs dedicated to keeping an eye on the daily’s actions as well as news outlets for stories not covered by the major papers.

The alternative newsweekly industry, like the Radio industry, has been profoundly changed by consolidation in recent years. Many newsweeklies that position themselves as local underdogs may actually be owned by conglomerates headquartered in another part of the country.

One advantage to consolidation for advertisers is that it’s now easier to assemble national marketing coverage. The Association for Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) recently launched a national classified network with over a hundred participating U.S. newsweeklies and aggregate circulation in excess of 6.5 million readers. In just its first five weeks of operation, the new network racked up a week-over-week revenue increase of over 200 percent.

Alternative-newsweekly readers tend to be very desirable target consumers. According to the Alternative Weekly Network (a non-profit corporation specifically created to facilitate and coordinate national advertising buys for the alternative press), the typical newsweekly reader is:

Male (53 percent) Female (47 percent) Single (50 percent) Young (42 percent are aged 18-34; 75 percent are aged 18-49) Educated (82 percent attended or graduated from college) Affluent (Average household income is $47,124).

Advantages

Disadvantages

Wide Distribution: Newsweeklies are usually distributed on hundreds of racks throughout a city, ready to be picked up on a whim by your target audience. Most are available free of charge, so potential readers don’t even need to part with $.50 to read the advertiser’s message. Pass-along Readership: People carry newsweeklies with them everywhere, often leaving them behind when they’re done – to be picked up and read by someone else. Hip Image: Newsweeklies are targeted to hip, youngish readers who rarely look at daily newspapers but whom advertisers want to reach. In particular, the local newsweekly is the source of choice for entertainment news among this demographic. Advertisers can take advantage of this reputation to enhance their own images. “Budget” Print Ads: An ad in a newsweekly offers many of the same characteristics as a newspaper ad, at rates that are usually lower than those of the local newspaper. Accepting Ad Policies: Ads for many categories that may have difficulty finding a home in other media, such as liquor or tobacco advertising, are welcome here.

Sleazy Reputation: The flip side of newsweeklies’ openhanded ad acceptance policy is that they attract a certain class of ad – including not only the above-mentioned liquor and tobacco ads, but also ads for adult services such as 900 numbers. Many advertisers would be uncomfortable sharing the pages of a publication with such advertisers. Limited Publication Schedule: The name “newsweekly” says it all. The majority of these publications are produced only once a week – not often enough to achieve frequency in consumers’ minds. Production Quality: Although some newsweeklies boast production values rivaling or even surpassing the local newspaper, some are produced as cheaply as possible, resulting in an overall “cheap” look many advertisers won’t want to be associated with. Narrow Appeal: Newsweeklies’ appeal among younger demos may be fine if that’s the target audience. However, advertisers seeking consumers who are older – and have more disposable income – may not find a good match here. Inflexible: To meet the newsweeklies’ schedule, ads must usually be locked in as much as a week or more in advance, limiting an advertiser’s ability to introduce copy changes. Ad Clutter: Most weeklies rely completely on advertising for revenue, so the typical issue is crammed with ads, often clustered together in groups. This practice can make it difficult for a given ad to stand out.