Too often brands and advertisers work with a catch-all model, defining their target audiences with broad demographics like gender, age, income, household size, and so on.

Increasingly, marketers are searching for more effective ways to reach consumers while news media publishers strive to deliver engaging content that is key to increased readership, retention, and revenue.

Exclusive readers (those who read one newspaper title and no other) provide an opportunity for these publishers and marketers.

Size of the exclusive readership

Some assume that the exclusive reader audiences are too insignificant to address. However, the most recent Vividata study proves otherwise. These readers are unique, engaged, and a surprisingly large segment in a fragmented media landscape.

In Canada’s six major markets, exclusive daily readership is consistently around 30% of the population. In Toronto, Canada’s largest city, 28% read only one newspaper title and represent nearly half of all average weekday newspaper readers.

Exclusive readers can also be a significant segment on an individual title basis. On a title-by-title basis, exclusive readers range between 16% and 38% of each title’s average weekday readership in Toronto.

Leveraging the exclusive reader concept

Beyond recognising the size of the segment, the benefits of understanding the exclusive reader can be significant:

Publishers can develop content strategies to appeal to their exclusive audience and grow their loyalty and frequency of reading: There is something about each news brand that attracts an exclusive reader.

Content strategies can be guided by a deeper understanding of exclusive readers’ unique profile, values and lifestyle, reading behaviour, and brand affinities.

Newspapers can deliver a loyal and unique audience to marketers: Exclusive readers have already made the decision to have a relationship with one newspaper. These readers also have brands and products they prefer, and those they would be open to trying.

This is an opportunity for news brands to leverage this relationship through sponsorships, events, special offers, and content targeted specifically to their exclusive readers.

Profiling the exclusive reader

Vividata has identified that, in many cases, exclusive newspaper readers have a more distinct profile than the balance of their total readership. We profiled exclusive readers of three newspaper brands in Toronto to demonstrate how consumer brands might align with these readers.

In the example above, each title has a defined, loyal, exclusive reader base. The news media brands they read are part of their identity.

Exclusive readers choose either print or digital

On the average day, exclusive readers are likely to choose either a print or digital platform to access their preferred newspaper content. The general reader base is more likely to use multiple platforms. The exclusive reader is a heavy reader of their newspaper, reading three or more issues a week on average.

Through analytics, publishers have the opportunity to identify exclusive readers, their brand preferences, and their behaviour, and then develop a connection strategy for readers and advertisers.

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