Who Still Reads Print Ads? Surprise, Surprise.
You may think it’s your grandfather or your father. But try asking your college-going younger brother.
A recent study found that college students are addicted to college newspapers. I found this was true in my own research as well.
Mainstream newspaper readership is declining everywhere, and yet college newspapers are still very much alive. The eye-opening facts:
* 76% read their paper in the past month. For dailies, it is 92%.
* Despite internet usage gaining strength, the print edition still gets more eyeballs.
* 73% say they look at the ads in their college paper.
* Top areas of interest? Entertainment news, sports, and current affairs.
Get Some Major Advertising Action:
* 78% (particularly females) use coupons or promo codes, mostly for food, restaurants, clothing, and big box stores.
* Advertising in the paper has significant impact on students’ actions after they read something, with almost 80% reacting:
- WOM is a strong driver of message sharing: 61% told a friend about something they saw.
- Over half attended an event as a result of reading.
- 40% saved an ad for future reference.
- 36% continued to research products or services online after reading it in print.
- 1 in 5 called or visited a retail store in response to an offer.
Source: Alloy Media + Marketing
Christine Babick is a marketing strategist and linguist specializing in marketing language, website text, “emo copy,” and cause and relationship marketing. More…
Article Tags: Advertising | Babick | College | Coupons | Education | newspapers | print | Promotions | Students
Filed under: Advertising, Education, Industry News, Word of Mouth Marketing



It’s no surprise that college newspapers have a strong readership. The papers are free and are catered to the college crowd - campus events, happy hours, student activities, etc.
In Chicago, the Tribune puts out a rag called the Red Eye that’s also free. It’s structured like a college paper with mostly entertainment news, columnist opinions and trendy articles. I would imagine that they enjoy the same kind of readership as the college papers. Moral of the story: make it free and make relevant.