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Micro-Zone Publishing: An Opportunity for Digital Printing in Newspaper Publishing

In an effort to generate more advertising income from local advertisers and offer larger advertisers the ability to target specific audiences, newspapers often segment their readers into zip code areas. Typically, newspapers provide custom advertising to these zones with the use of intelligent newspaper inserting devices. For example, every newspaper going to zip code 90210 gets inserts A, B, C, while newspapers going to zip code 90211 get inserts A, C, and E.

Some newspapers also have an editorial section focused on local issues that is inserted into different regional editions. Typically, the “local” section of the newspaper includes pre-planned content that targets one of four or five suburban areas. Each local section requires writers, editors, a separate press run, and typically is not produced more often than once a week.

Today, advertisers can target local audiences by offering an insert that is only included in certain papers or by advertising only in the local section of the newspaper. The micro-zone publishing concept allows newspaper publishers to focus on increasing readership by offering readers more relevant, local content and increase advertising revenue with more targeted advertising opportunities. This concept can also involve publishing content submitted by readers of the newspaper itself. Often referred to as reverse publishing, this form of citizen journalism provides more local content and can help reduce editorial overhead.

Production digital printing technology can help enable more targeted printed pages for newspaper publications, allowing publishers to increase the value of their newspaper and gain more local advertising revenue. Nevertheless, to further enable the micro-zone publishing and/or reverse publishing concept, newspapers will need to consider a content management solution or platform that can allow not only admission and aggregation of content, but also the ability to match content with relevant, local advertising. The platform can include self-serve advertising booking functionality where smaller, local advertisers can place and pay for ads themselves, as opposed to working with newspaper ad sales personnel.

The preceding is an excerpt from a report entitled The Emerging Digital Printing Opportunity in Newspaper Publishing. To learn more about this report, visit our online store or contact Robyn Wuori at ext. 103 or via e-mail at .