DMA (UK) reveals continuing decline in newspaper inserts

The Direct Marketing Association (UK) has released research revealing print advertising inserts in newspapers continue to decline while magazine and third-party distributions are taking a larger market share.

by Helen Leggatt

According to the DMA (UK), the number of print advertising inserts distributed in the UK fell 12.5% to 3.98 billion last year. A drop in print newspaper inserts accounted for a whopping 70% of the decline while insert volumes in magazines and third-party distribution remained steady.

However, the DMA UK says it is not all doom and gloom and predicts that print insert use may rebound once the EU General Data Protection Regulation comes into force in May 2018 as the format does not require too much handling of consumers' personal data.

"As marketers of print media we shouldn't necessarily view this report with gloom," says Ben Briggs, Deputy Chair of the DMA Print Council and Planning & Brand Partnerships Director, Response One.

"Although we will undoubtedly continue to see print circulations decline as the consumption of press moves online, inserts face a real opportunity to increase their cut-through through innovation, creative thinking and playing to the strengths of the medium - making impactful, tangible connections and delivering great ROI."