Now it’s Print’s Turn to Do the Disrupting

Last week BuzzFeed took a foray into the world of print with their one-off 12-page news magazine. They called it a “stunt” at the time, but there was clearly a business strategy at play to test the waters. And that strategy could be backed up by new research from Wardour that sheds some light on the reading habits of younger consumers.

“The Wardour survey among 2,001 consumers aged 18 and over shows that print owes its growth mainly to the rising popularity among young people,” notes this article in MagazineMedia.be

“In the past year,” the article continues, “young people have started to read more and more print alongside their online media consumption (online has also increased in all age groups). Both the Generation Z group (18 to 24) and the age group up to 35 years of age started to read more through the print channels last year. The increase is higher than in people in other age categories. The expected shift to digital reading among young people is therefore not being made and there is rather a reversal towards print.

According to the survey respondents, print has some distinct features that make it easier to remember information. Nearly half of the 2,000 people who took the survey agree that they are more apt to remember what they read in print over on screen. As we know, this agrees with previous research on print’s ability to spur recall over digital.

More facts from the report:

  • 54% found it much easier to focus on the message in print
  • 61% prefer print for complicated messages
  • 25% say they feel info they read in print is more reliable than online, indicating more trust in printed messages.

So what’s it all mean to marketers trying to reach these 18-24-year-olds? The message is clear.

“In an era when trust in business and society is falling, this ability for brands to create and generate trust through the right content creation and strategy should not be underestimated. For all these reasons and more, it’s time to rethink ink,” the report concludes.