NS Presents Digital Study to Agencies

The NS is presenting the findings of its qualitative research project Local Communities in a Digital World to media agencies.

Conducted by Connect Insight, the study has already been presented to MEC and OMD and meetings have been scheduled with agencies including PHD, Starcom and Initiative.

The study is comprised of videotaped footage of focus groups and in depth sessions in which discussions were held with participants about their internet usage as they browsed the web.

Themes to emerge from the discussions with users included:

• Local media websites are more likely to be seen as a natural extension of the printed newspaper than national newspaper websites;
• Users like having a platform on which they can express their own views;
• Strong affinity with local media websites compared to national websites;
• More likely to trust a local media website than others because it is local.

NS marketing director Robert Ray said: “The themes from the study illustrate that while users enjoy the added benefits of local media online, such as up-to-the-minute news and greater interactivity, the core values of the trusted print product continue to transfer to the newspaper brand online.

“This builds on key findings from the wanted ads Stage III which found that the advertising on local media websites is nearly twice as trusted and relied-upon as other website advertising.”

The presentation of Local Communities in a Digital World, which can be seen on the NS website here, includes case studies of recent online initiatives in local media.

For more information please contact Keith Donaldson on 020 763 274 43 or keith_donaldson@newspapersoc.org.uk.