The George Herald is the fourth most read weekly newspaper in the country. The readership of our printed weekly paper is easily five times that of the daily Die Burger in our area. According to the ABC figures, which are the audited sold figures of newspapers during the July-September 2013 period, Die Burger collectively sold 5 192 newspapers in the George, Mossel Bay, Riversdale and Knysna areas. In the same period the papers published by Group Editors in the same towns sold the following figures: Mossel Bay Advertiser - 7 648; Knysna-Plett Herald - 3 099; Suid-Kaap Forum in Riversdale and surrounding areas - 3 761 and the George Herald - 14 829. Collectively, this comes to 29 337 bought papers compared to Die Burger's 5 192.
What do these figures tell us? The doomsday prophets predicting the demise of newspapers are only partly correct.
National papers and dailies - yes; community newspapers - a resounding NO!
Daily newspapers are being hit very hard by digital news, and every quarter you can see the distribution of their printed product going down.
This is not the case with community newspapers. For the past four years Group Editors has continually been developing online solutions for our readers, but this has had no effect on the sales of the printed product. Even so, our websites are now some of the most read community newspaper websites in the country and continue to attract readers with our up-to-date information, news and business directories. Our readership across our local newspaper sites is over 470 000 page views per month; that is over 160 000 visits by individuals to the sites in one month. The George Herald alone has over 200 000 page views a month, which is over 66 000 visits by individuals a month.*
The online strategy has had no effect on the number of newspapers bought on a weekly basis. After a recent survey held in our papers we can see that there are readers using both mediums (print and online), but that online has additional readers, which is why it is important to ensure that your business has a web presence or to ensure that you are advertising in both mediums.
It is with this in mind that we have created a solution for all businesses in the area, a business directory called ONLINE GARDEN ROUTE. We have used state-of-the-art developers who have ensured that this directory has all the major new features that are trending in all First World countries. It has been designed using responsive design techniques, which means no matter what device you are viewing our directory on, be it your Smartphone, your laptop or your Tablet, it fits your screen. You can search for businesses by category, by town, or by the entire area. You can view the businesses you are searching for on a map to see which is closest to you. As a business owner you can constantly change your graphics, update your news or rates and link it to your Facebook page.
We currently have over 5 000 local businesses listed on our directory, making it one of the largest directories in our area. Any business can list their basic business details on our sites free of charge. Monthly charges only become applicable when you upgrade to a different size listing, which has many additional features.
Community newspapers are here to stay and this is why investment guru Warren Buffet, one of the great financial visionaries of our time, made the media world take note when he bought 28 community papers for $344-million in 2012 with the words: "This is where the future of newspapers rests."
His reason? Local news has a direct affect on you and your neighbour and no other medium gives you information about your school's new rugby team as well as the 'man about town' who was found drunk on the back seat of his car. Missed that story? Read it on our website.
We bring you all the news of the Garden Route, so you can rest assured that if your story or advertisement appears in a Group Editors paper and specifically in the George Herald, it will not go unnoticed.
I end with what Warren Buffet said when he surprised the world and purchased Media General's community papers in the US. "In Grand Island, Nebraska, everyone is interested in how the football team does. They’re interested in who got married. They’re maybe even more interested in who got divorced."
Long live our community.
* According to Google Analytics June-August 2014
ARTICLE BY ILSE SCHOONRAAD (GEORGE HERALD EDITOR) AND NICOLE RIMBAULT (GROUP EDITORS' OPERATIONS DIRECTOR)
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