Sunday newspapers have witnessed a 31% increase in the number of inserts during the past year, despite the closure of the UK’s biggest selling title – the News of the World – while overall the market has grown 10% due to a rise in online engagement.
The DMA’s annual Inserts Industry research, which surveyed companies across a range of sectors involved in inserts marketing in the UK, found that media owners have seen a significant increase in activity from core direct response clients, including mail order catalogues.
Retail has also performed strongly, with substantial activity from high street retailers including John Lewis, Debenhams and Argos.
The report also highlights how TV and Internet providers including Sky, Virgin Media and BT have recognised inserts as a valuable resource to elicit responses from consumers and how they continue to invest heavily in this type of media.
DMA Insert Council vice-chair Steve Hickman commented: “Inserts have evolved from simply being an advertising medium, to a form of communication which people are using as a way of interacting with brands.
“As the study shows, retailers and broadband providers are already seeing the benefits of this, with inserts being produced to encourage consumers to engage online.”
Hickman cites the rising levels of online engagement. In 2009, the volume of response migrating online was 52%; this has risen to 56% in 2011.
He added: “Inserts are playing a larger part in consumers’ experience as brands use the medium as a key driver for customers to engage online. As digital media continues to evolve, I think we’ll see more of this offline-to-online interaction, and inserts look set to play a key role in this.”
