Released during the News Media Association’s Journalism Matters campaign this week, the latest JICREG audience data shows strong audiences for the sector with local media reaching 77 per cent of the GB population aged 15+.
Journalism Matters includes the Making a Difference public vote for the best news media campaign of the past year. A selection of powerful local campaigns is in the running for the award which will be announced on Friday this week.
The JICREG audience figures follow an Enders Analysis report on local media in August which pointed to “mind-boggling” traffic online and highly engaged audiences for the sector. Encouraging market innovations are sending a strong signal and building industry confidence, the report added.
NMA Vice Chair Danny Cammiade said: “These new JICREG audience numbers are encouraging and show that news and information from local news media is in very high demand. It is important for advertisers, including government, to take note of the power and scale of highly trusted local news media and prioritise their ad spend accordingly.”
Governed by a board of representatives from local publishers, NMA, ISBA and the IPA, JICREG is a joint industry currency used by all major publishers and communications agencies in the UK.
Belinda Beeftink, IPA research director, said: “Local news brands have always been highly trusted by their readers and that converts into the extremely strong audience numbers we are seeing. As misinformation becomes ever more sophisticated, news brands – the main driver of trusted journalism in the UK - will become even more important than they are now.”
Clare O'Brien, ISBA head of media, said: “Local journalists live and work in the communities they serve and that enables them to produce unique and powerful content which is directly relevant to people’s lives.
“This matters for advertisers who face more choice and fragmentation than ever before. By investing in local media, clients can harness the unique and powerful connection that local media has with local communities at unprecedented scale.”
Adam Crow, head of publishing UK at essencemediacom, said: “JICREG is a well-known, long-established and highly trusted tool within the media agency and advertiser community, enabling users to see exactly how local media is consumed in print, mobile and desktop right across Great Britain.”
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