The group, which is enjoying a growing share of overall profits from digital revenue (over 40% in 2013), has invested in a new campaign to cover TV, radio and digital advertising, says the company. This will centre on the ‘heritage and relevance’ of the news group’s 250 year history, providing a backdrop to its contemporary content.
The campaign (which can be previewed here) will air on Channel 4, Sky Adsmart, Classic FM Scotland and Smooth Radio in Scotland from Monday 10 March 2014, and is aimed at Herald and Times’ primary audience of affluent ABC1 readers aged 40 plus. Adverts will also appear online, and highlight both the news offering and specific digital products, starting with its revamped property section and new online property portal at Scotlandshomes.co.uk.
Group sales and marketing director Peter Gillespie said: “We hope that the juxtaposition of historic and contemporary references will underline our unique credibility as Scotland’s quality news provider since 1783 and the days of delivering by horse and cart. Now we deliver breaking news via a broader range of media platforms than ever before, growing audiences in preparation for the next 250 years!
“Our existing subscribers already enjoy a seamless experience when browsing our content on multiple platforms and we want to highlight this to new audiences who perhaps are not so aware that they can get the quality news and analysis they value very easily, both on paper and on screen from Herald and Times.”
The Group has also revamped its weekly property supplement and launched a new online portal at Scotlandshomes.co.uk with a consistent look and feel to reflect its premium offering. New features include ‘quick find’ references which unite print and online platforms, enabling readers to go direct to further information on a property they’ve spotted in the print supplement, Scotland’s Homes simply by typing in a unique reference within the print advert.
The new portal has been built in response to both buyers’ and sellers’ requirements with a view to targeting affluent homeowners who are both ‘active’ or ‘passive’ in the property market.
Data from SPA Future Thinking research which sampled active and prospective sellers in October 2013 found that: “Advertising in the local newspaper drives interest in properties and therefore traffic to digital sources, with 82 per cent of buyers surveyed claiming to have further investigated [properties they’ve seen in] a local press advert.”
Group sales and marketing director Peter Gillespie said: “We’ve built a premium portal for an affluent, discerning audience which allows buyers to easily access more information on a property, whether they saw it first on paper or online. It also gives our premium-end estate agency advertising customers the opportunity to build their brands in front of their primary audience by targeting both active and latent vendors which are already homeowners. We have much more in the pipeline for our audiences and will continue to respond and innovate in response to our readers’ and advertisers’ needs.”
In recent months Herald and Times Group has announced strong digital growth of 66% and 74% respectively for online audiences across its HeraldScotland.com and Eveningtimes.co.uk titles, with average unique visitors climbing to 1.4 million and 300k per month.
Digital revenue has increased by 19% in the twelve months to January 2014, underlining the success of Herald and Times’ strategy in introducing subscriptions for its digital content, says the company.
