Why niche marketers should target news readers

A recent study from McKinsey indicates that marketers may get a nice boost by targeting different news websites. According to the study news readers get their news fix from as many as sixteen different online and offline news hubs each week.

by Kristina Knight

Researchers polled users about their habits of consuming news across radio, television, newspapers, magazines and the Internet. They found that users view between twelve and sixteen news brands, some at least once each week. Television (45% preference) and the Internet (26% preference) were the most liked hubs, followed by newspapers (18%) and radio (10%). Magazines were the least liked with only a 1% preference.

With users choosing not one but many news sources, advertisers would be wise to begin sponsoring or advertising with the different sources from the Internet to television. It would also be a benefit to advertisers to go even further and determine which niche audiences are most likely to use each hub and target ads according to those likes and dislikes.

There are three types of readers that marketers need to engage. These are the citizen readers, a group that has a median age of 49, mostly male and with a household income of $50,000 or more. The digital cynics demographic has a median age of 42, is primarily male and has a household income of $50,000 or more. The final group is the news lover demographic, which is roughly 40 years of age, primarily male with a household income of $50,000 or more.