News UK’s Karin Seymour admits it’s becoming tougher for print brands to survive but believes quality content remains key to attracting advertisers.
The Sunday Times September fashion issue of its Style magazine achieved over £1. 12m in ad revenue, its biggest issue to date.
The total number of advertisers increased by 9% compared to last year. The total number of ad pages rose by 4%.
In an interview with Marketing Weekly Karin Seymour explained print brands need to start shouting about the medium to survive.
“Publishers need to provide content that people relate to and engage with. It should be pure escapism.”
She believes brands need to reiterate to advertisers that print can still be lucrative. Figures from the National Readership Survey show print reaches 68% (35 million people) of UK adults each month.
“We absolutely need to start selling the medium by having a proper conversation about its value.”
Despite the rise of online media, Seymour believes people will still want to consume print if it provides quality content.
She concludes:
“The printed product gets quite bad press but if you get the environment and content right, there’s a hugely important place in readers’ hearts and advertisers’ schedules.”