Mobile telephones are not only used for voice calls, SMS messages, e-mailing and internet access - in some markets they also serve as digital wallets, which are used to make purchases online. This flexibility and the enormous number of mobile telephones world-wide makes mobile a natural platform for newspapers to reach audiences with better, more tailored content - and it holds great potential to produce revenues from both advertising and micro-payments. A new report from the World Association of Newspapers' Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, "Winning Mobile Strategies", examines the most promising strategies for mobile development world-wide. More
In the Arab world, newspaper auditing is a burgeoning practice and increasingly seen as a key way for advertisers to know that their money is being appropriately spent and for media to know that their revenue matches their circulation. A few years ago, a small handful of newspapers were audited and circulation figures were rarely publicized, leaving room for arbitrary pricing of advertising space and non-transparent business practices. Now, there are more than 100 audited titles. APN spoke to Aspen Aman, Business Development Manager of BPA Worldwide, the global auditor of the media, about how auditing is quickly taking off across the Middle East and becoming more of a necessity for the most competitive newspapers. More
Egyptians and
Moroccans prefer newspapers, while the Lebanese spend more time reading
books, according to a survey conducted by a multinational marketing
research company published in mid-June. More
Market research
spending in the Middle East is up by 35 to 40 per cent, however, only
a negligible amount is devoted to media analysis. In the absence of reliable data, advertisers and agencies are forced to “guessing and gut-feeling” in their buying decisions. Urging media to
take the lead in developing accurate research, a leading UAE marketing
executive told delegates to the Middle East Publishing Conference in
Dubai that the problem is threatening the credibility of the industry.
Audience
research is one of the key ways to determine how many readers you have,
identify who they are and figure out what they want from your
newspaper. It is a fundamental revenue generation tool, and when done
properly, can help boost circulation and increase advertising in any
newspaper, whether small or big. Audience research does not need to be
costly, nor does it need to be complicated, but it does need to be
professional.
APN spoke to Dennis List, author of “Know Your Audience: A Practical
Guide to Media Research” and founder of Audience Dialogue, an
organization that is dedicated to helping people in the communications
industry to better measure their audience, train their staff and
evaluate their projects. More
Auditing has
become one of the main issues on the print media scene in the Gulf
region. While advertisers demand greater clarity about circulation
numbers, newspapers have not yet started taking the necessary steps.
One exception is 7Days, a free tabloid published in the United Arab Emirates.
More