• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 20, 2003

In an effort to combat declining circulation trends - particularly among the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population - the newspaper industry is stepping up efforts to court niche market readers, including ethnic markets and young adults and teens. The effort, which is part of a broader, ongoing readership initiative, could result in substantive changes in both the look and feel of U.S. newspapers, as well as the composition of their audience.

While that ultimately could be a good thing, expanding the appeal of daily and Sunday newspapers among rapidly growing multicultural markets, the pronounced changes could alienate the base readership of many newspapers and so the industry is embarking slowly to weigh the risks of niche versus mass circulation marketing.

As part of that effort, the Newspaper Association of America this week began circulating a survey of its readership to better understand what types of marketing initiatives local newspaper publishers have earmarked to develop niche markets and what the impact of those initiatives has been.

Findings of the research are expected to be released in January during the NAA's 2004 Marketing Conference in San Diego and likely will represent the foundation of the newspaper industry's multicultural advertising sales and marketing efforts next year.

The newspaper industry has been slow to tap the rapidly growing ethnic marketplace, both in terms of circulation and advertising, and has watched as TV, radio and even niche magazines have gobbled up share of the rapidly growing ethnic population, as well as marketing budgets aimed at such consumers.

Recognizing this, the NAA formed GOLD (Growth Opportunities by Leveraging Diversity), a sales development and marketing division created specifically to build market share among multicultural segments.

However, it still is unclear how those efforts will impact traditional newspaper readers and advertisers. Among the findings of a study conducted by the NAA's Readership Institute last year was that the best ways to build audience among ethnic groups was to 1) "Build a common ground" between ethnic groups; 2) Make newspapers easier to read; and 3) Expand coverage of things like community announcements, obituaries, etc.

The study being fielded now by the NAA also looks at what types of free-standing niche marketing efforts publishers have made to date, such as inserts, sections, columns or standalone news products aimed at niche segments.

Just last week, Tribune Co. Hoy, a Spanish-language daily in Chicago, and other top publishers are eyeing Spanish-language editions or spin-offs.

And with good reason. Among the findings of the Readership Institute's research is that ethnic groups rank much higher as people who intend to read newspapers in the future. Only 2% of white respondents disclosed such intentions, compared to 3% of Hispanics and 13% of African Americans.