Print in the Mix - A Clearinghouse of Research on Print Media Effectiveness

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College Newspapers are the Best Read Medium on Campus

Alloy Media + Marketing’s College Newspaper Audience Study, conducted in partnership with MORI Research

In this online age, the strength of the campus print publication has not diminished. In addition to being valued by its community, the advertising in the campus newspaper is paid attention to, sought out, and oftentimes acted upon.

Date: Spring 2008

Type of Promotional Material/Activity Tested:

College students reading habits and preferences, as well as behaviors and attitudes towards, advertising within their campus paper,

Sample Population:

1,246 college students from 550 universities across all 50 states. The study also surveyed 250 faculty and staff members from over 200 universities.

Methodology:

Online survey. The margin of error is +/- 2.8% for the students and +/- 6.2% for the faculty.

Top Line Results:

Three out of four college students surveyed say they have read their printed campus newspaper in the past 30 days, This figure tops 92% at schools that publish their paper daily (M-F).

Students who read their campus newspaper report reading 3 out of every 5 issues on average with close to 30% saying they read every issue.

Only 18% of students say they read the online version of their campus publication (alone or in combination with the print version).

Close to three-quarters (73%) of college students say they look at the advertisements in their college paper and 44% of all students report seeking out the ads in the school paper. Only 4% of students surveyed said they avoid advertising while reading the newspaper.

Actions students report taking as a result of advertising in their college newspaper:

What actions have you taken part in as a result of advertising in your campus newspaper?
Any (net)	70%
Attended an event	50%
Mentioned to a friend	43%
Researched product/service online	28%
Saved ad for future reference	27%
Called or visited a store	18%
Purchased a product or service	11%

Close to 80% of students surveyed report using coupons or promotional codes. The most popular coupon categories and reported redemption:

food (including restaurants)
clothing categories
big box stores

Like the students, over three-quarters of faculty and staff have read their campus publication in the last month.

More than six out of ten faculty and staff say they look at the paper’s advertising content and almost half (47%) rate advertising as important to the paper’s content. Nine out of 10 faculty and staff say they use coupons.

The actions faculty and staff have taken as a result of advertisements in their campus newspaper closely match those of students -- and in the “made a purchase” category they exceed students with nearly 1 in 5 saying they have purchased a product or service they saw advertised in their campus newspaper.

Take-Away:

Complexity rating: 1 out of 3

(Complex statistical analysis scale: 1= none, 2= moderate, 3 = difficult)

Link to AM+M's College Newspapers Are the Best Read Medium on Campus featured in their publication The Fix.

Link to AM+M's Press Release (via Reuters) with additional details on this study

Print in the Mix is published by the Printing Industry Center at RIT and made possible by a grant from The Print Council.
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