In cooperation with media companies in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, Visiolink recently conducted a survey among some 3,000 readers who access newspapers on their iPads and iPhones.
Even though 70 per cent of the readers using iPads indicated that it is important – or very important – for a digital newspaper to resemble its printed version, a majority expressed their desire to be able to click on the ads in the paper.
These are just two of the many conclusions drawn from a survey that Visiolink has conducted on behalf of a number of Scandinavian media companies. Around 3,000 respondents from four countries participated in the survey, and all of them were readers of a digital 1:1 version of a printed edition of the newspaper for iPad or iPhone.
The purpose of this and future benchmark surveys is to provide media companies with greater insight into readers' use patterns and needs on digital platforms, in order to be able to continuously develop and improve products for readers and advertisers alike.
"Benchmarking against other newspapers allows the individual media company to establish its own digital strategy in relation to other publications. It gives you dependable scope to gain greater knowledge of the potential of a given digital strategy, and to act accordingly to refine your digital presence," says Visiolink COO Kenneth Boll, who in the next benchmark survey will also involve readers and media companies from Germany and the Netherlands.
According to Boll, there has been a surprisingly high level of interest among readers to participate in the survey:
"The users become involved in their newspaper, which is also supported by qualitative portion of the survey. About 40 per cent of the participants chose to write comments, and these comments show that the users have a clear opinion about the newspaper, and that they want to be heard to be involved in its development. It's a real eye-opener for the media industry, which, historically, has survived on one-way communication. So, what we're seeing here is product development based on valid user feedback from engaged readers," says Kenneth Boll.
Extracts from "Benchmark Report 2014"
- 69-80 per cent of readers would like to be able to click on ads found in the printed newspaper that are also shown digitally in the iPad version.
- In general, the digital newspaper is most often read at home. Finnish and Swedish users read theirs online while commuting, while the Norwegians are most the inclined to take their digital newspapers with them on holiday.
- Digital newspaper readers are loyal. The majority read theirs every day, and in Finland, 27 per cent of respondents say they read their digital newspaper more than once daily.
- 67-74 per cent of the respondents said it was "important" or "very important" for the digital newspaper to resemble the printed version.
- The greatest motivation factor for reading the digital edition of a newspaper is that it is accessible wherever the reader may be (72-87 per cent).
