A new research study recently released by AdWest Marketing Inc. in conjunction with Totum Research reveals that many Canadians are transitioning to E-Editions, the digital replica of the printed newspaper, as their source for local news.
The study, How Geography Impacts Shopping Habits, Patterns and E-Commerce, undertaken in February 2023 involved 2,492 participants and focused on how the size and location of their home community affected their media consumption and shopping habits. One of the biggest revelations from the results was the level of engagement across all community shapes and sizes with newspaper E-Editions.
According to the study’s results, 42% of Canadians living in urban markets with a population of 100,000+ indicated that they had read an E-Edition (a digitized replica of the printed newspaper) last week. That number, coupled with the 39% of urban Canadians who indicated they had read a newspaper in ‘printed’ form, brings the total number of Canadians who engaged with a traditional format newspaper in the last week to nearly 6 in 10.
In rural Canada, the numbers skew more towards engagement with the printed version of the newspaper, with 44% saying they’d read a printed newspaper in the last week and 35% indicating they’d engaged with the E-Edition. Overall, 60% of rural Canadians admitted to having read either a printed newspaper or a digital replica of the printed newspaper in the last week.
This study is one of the first to isolate engagement with an E-Edition from its website. “It’s obvious that moving forward, the newspaper industry must clearly define how its audience is engaging with the platform so advertisers have a clear understanding of what that engagement actually looks like and how it affects their planning activities”, explains AdWest Advertising Director Jeff Beardsworth.
“Previously, most studies have focused on two things: engagement with the printed product and/or engagement with the website product. This becomes problematic when a website visit is required for a reader to access the E-Edition, resulting in a bit of a double hit on the numbers when you try to interpret them. Engagement is being removed from the ‘print’ product – even though an E-Edition is the identical packaging of news but in a digital format – and attributed to the website. Removing readership of E-Editions from ‘website engagement’ and reassigning it to engagement with the printed newspaper puts a totally different perspective on everything.”
Are the study results indicators of trends in how newspapers will be consumed in the future? It’s too early to tell,” says Beardsworth. “For many publications, the E-Edition was the first foray into putting their newspaper online. I would say that engagement with E-Editions has always been high but likely not receiving proper attribution, sending a bit of a mixed message. It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that for most Canadians, the traditional look and feel of a newspaper is something they want, whether it’s printed on newsprint or viewed on a screen.”
To view the results or learn more about the study, commissioned by AdWest, conducted by Totum Research Inc., and funded in part by the Department of Canadian Heritage, visit: https://adcanadamedia.ca/2023-adwest-how-geography-impacts-shopping-habits.
