Readership
The results are in and they are astounding!
97% Receivership
75% Readership
74% Influence on purchasing
Free papers are widely read by all age groups, all demographic groups and all educational levels. Circulation audits and readership studies attest to the validity of free paper readership despite misconceptions that surround the free paper industry. Free paper readers are often cast as “old, poor and uneducated.” However, independent readership surveys indicate that this portrayal is very wrong.
In recent years, publications with circulation totaling more than 72 million homes have been audited with independent readership studies verifying the strength of free paper readership. These audits were consolidated to show the overall scores of the industry, as noted above.
Receivership is the percentage of households reporting receiving a free paper. Readership is the percentage of those households reporting that they read free papers. Influence on purchasing is the percentage of those households that use free papers to influence their purchasing decisions. These are phenomenal scores when compared to paid publications. In many cases, the local free paper is directly influencing more readers to purchase advertiser’s products than the entire circulation of the local paid paper.
According to the same CVC audits:
Myth: Only the uneducated read free papers.
Fact: Free Paper Readers are highly educated earning degrees from high school and college.
Myth: Only old people read free papers.
Fact: Free Paper Readers are between the ages of 25 and 54.
Myth: Only poor people read free papers.
Fact: Free Paper readers are middle and upper middle class Americans.
Clearly advertising in free papers is good business!