Ann Arbor Independent Reader Survey Results
THE ANN ARBOR INDEPENDENT is in the midst of conducting its first reader survey. Thus far 170 individuals have elected to take the survey online.
“This is a community newspaper,” said Patricia Lesko, whose decades old local publishing company launched The A2 Indy in October 2013, “and it’s important to use a variety of methods to collect feedback. Certainly, we get emails, calls and letters from readers who are subscribers as well as from people who don’t subscribe, but it’s really important to be as systematic as possible and collect feedback from as many people as we can.”
The survey results, which will be published in their entirety in the July 30 issue of the newspaper, point clearly to what readers read and what they don’t. According to the preliminary results, the top three types of editorial content those surveyed say they always read are front page news, local news and op-eds.
This is consistent with a readership report published by the Newspaper Association of America. The association collected readership data through personal interviews drawn from a sample of 25,781 adults age 18 or older. According to that organization’s research, “Main news/front page is the most widely read section among adult daily newspaper readers at 87%…. After main news/front page, men and women read the local News section most (83% & 87% respectively).”
The Ann Arbor Independent was launched without sports coverage, a bold decision considering 55 percent of adults say they regularly read sports coverage. Not surprisingly, more men (76 percent) than women (34 percent) say they ready sports coverage.
“I recently received the gentlest of nudges via email from a reader who wrote to say that while that he buys the newspaper on the newsstand weekly, he misses sports coverage. He asked if we would consider including sports. I wrote back that the plan is to launch prep. sports coverage in September of 2014 as the newspaper increases its page count,” said Patricia Lesko. “However, there are no plans to include either college or pro sports. The Detroit papers publish award-winning sports coverage for everyone to read.”
Lesko explains that the locally-owned newspaper targets readers ages 35-65+ who are engaged in their communities.
“Ann Arbor is, really, the perfect demographic for a print newspaper. Folks are educated, a large percentage of them have disposable income and they are of a certain age—they want to sit down with a print newspaper, drink their tea and read.”
According to the preliminary survey results released, of those who participated in the survey 53 percent said they either read “most of the newspaper’s articles or read the newspaper front to back.”
“The A2 Indy is publishing award-winning content written by award-winning writers. It’s long-form journalism that appeals to news consumers who are looking to be engaged. We had a reader call up to renew and she said, ‘It’s takes me all week to read your newspaper. Thank you.’”
A large percentage of readers surveyed thus far say they find the quality of the writing and the reporting above average to excellent.
Patricia Lesko says, “My goal was to give really discerning, smart news consumers a smart weekly newspaper. To have 84 percent of respondents thus far say the quality of the reporting and the writing are above average (38 percent) to excellent (46 percent) is exactly what I’d hoped would happen when I conceptualized the paper.”
Lesko says she has spent a good deal of time studying trends in the newspaper industry, but doesn’t feel like The Ann Arbor Independent will necessarily follow industry trends.
“This is a unique business model—giving free advertising to small, local businesses and we refuse advertising from local government and universities,” said Lesko. “Survey results thus far show this decision gives people more confidence in the paper’s editorial independence.”
About 70 percent of respondents have indicated that because the newspaper does not accept paid or unpaid advertising from local, county or state government, the public schools or local universities, they have “more confidence is the paper’s editorial independence.” Patricia Lesko said: “Our newsstand sales have doubled each month even though we’re doing small batch marketing. It’s important to know that the majority of those surveyed thus far would recommend the paper to another reader or already have.”