What makes Sundays so special for advertisers.

Sunday is the ideal day for people to kick back and relax, or do whatever it is that they love best and Ads24’s Sunday titles – Rapport, City Press, Son op Sondag and Sunday Sun – are the perfect accompaniment for a serene Sunday, which also makes them the perfect platform for advertisers.

“The Sunday editions offer a high-impact environment – reaching nine-million readers per week,” said Shane Jacobs, Ads24 Business Manager. “Although the daily format reaches 10, 3 million, this equates to around 2, 1 million a day, which means the reach of the Sunday editions is four times greater on an impact level than on any other daily news day. For this reason, brands can leverage the impact of a Sunday to launch their product and use the repetition of the daily news format to extend the campaign.”

Given the many supplements that make up the Sunday titles, they are considered a “family read” with most households sharing the various sections of the paper among themselves.

“This can be beneficial when trying to capitalise on ‘pester power’ by acting as a stimulus to the youth or youngest member of the household to act as an influencer, and convince the household purchaser to buy or sample the product/ service in future,” said Jacobs.

Another reason the Sunday titles have such great impact is because people have more time to read and spend more time absorbing the content (including ad material) of the newspaper.

According to international study conducted by printpower.eu; the average time spent reading a Sunday newspaper equates to one hour and 20 minutes, while people spend an accumulative average of only one hour and 10 minutes reading the news during the week.

“This provides 10% more impact for brands that want to dominate their categories and share of the consumer’s mind in terms of salience,” said Jacobs.

Sunday readers hold economic sway

In 2016 Ads24 conducted independent research, leveraging the Forum 24 survey arm, to find out what the key driver and frame of mind is for the heavy news reader, such as the Sunday reader who spends more time than the daily news reader.  The results confirmed what Ads 24 had suspected for years:  The heavy news reader is status and brand conscious, which is why they welcome brand advertising across a Sunday publication (Source: Forum 24 – Power of News).

They also earn more. The average personal income for daily newspaper readers in South Africa is R7 807 per month, whereas Sunday newspaper readers earn an average of R9 407 a month. Sunday readers therefore earn 20% more per month than the average daily reader, which equates to R19 200 rand more on average, per fiscal year. (Source: AMPS 2015 – Reweighted)

“The Sunday reader is regarded as being part of the ‘Wealth Segment’ within the newspaper reading universe and, as such, can be expected to have a higher propensity to invest and purchase brands, products or services,” said Jacobs. “This is based on the knowing that they have more disposable income available to them, which means that brands with higher price points that have a longer purchase cycle should consider using Sunday titles extensively.”

How brands can talk to Sunday readers

Altogether  60% of Sunday readers, read the newspaper from cover to cover – which means that advertisers need to plan for this and find creative ways in which to loop their brand in sections of the paper that are relevant to their campaign and not only focus on one area of brand positioning.

A total of 61% of Sunday readers say their copy is typically purchased by someone else within the household – thus brands need to focus on rewarding all the individuals who have interacted in a single household, as ‘sharing’ is occurring and it may be leading to ‘passover’  engagement within the household.

Creative Boldness: Given the propensity to spend more time reading a Sunday edition, brands can harness their creative niche, to find ways in which to build relationships or influence consumer decision making.

“We suggest including technological advancements to make ads experiential in nature for example:   virtual reality, artificial intelligence and printing effects that act as a stimulus for the senses,” said Jacobs.