Random Musings

I came across a very interesting and somewhat ticklish article in the Money section of today’s Straits Times.

(Article: Straits Times tops advertisers’ choice survey)

Let me just quote you the gist of the story.

“THE Straits Times (ST) has emerged as the most popular newspaper in Singapore in the eyes of advertisers and their clients in a recent survey conducted by Marketing magazine.

The trade journal said in its August edition that the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) flagship newspaper had topped its poll of more than 1,100 marketing and advertising professionals and their clients conducted in March.

Another SPH publication, The Business Times, featured in the top three of the survey, claiming third spot, just behind the free newspaper, Today.”

This is great stuff. The Straits Times received an overwhelming 65.5% of the votes amongst the more than “1,100 marketing and advertising professionals and their clients”.

One might almost be tempted to think that this equates to the Straits Times being an outstanding newspaper!

Lest we be too quick to jump to conclusions, let us scrutinise the facts more closely:

“The respondents comprised 430 advertising agency professionals and 759 clients. They were asked to list in descending order of preference the three local publications in which they would like to advertise. The survey did not list their options – the choices were left to the respondents.” (emphasis mine)

Let’s see now – If I were an advertiser, and could choose ANY publication in Singapore to place my advertisement (cost notwithstanding), and if I were to want to reach an English-speaking audience in the largest possible way, what are my choices?

Magazines: Considering the largest-circulating English magazines audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations Singapore are i) Lifestyle Magazine (166, 646 monthly), ii) Telescope (122,934 monthly) and iii) Adventure Joe Fun Book (78,000 monthly)…I don’t think my choices are very attractive.

Firstly, a monthly circulation of 166,646 pales in comparison to a daily circulation of 381,354 for the Straits Times. 

Secondly, I’ve never bothered to read Lifestyle Magazine, never seen Telescope magazine before, and never ever in my life heard of a magazine called “Adventure Joe Fun Book”!

Which brings me to Newspapers.

When we talk about mass-circulation daily English newspapers, we are effectively narrowing ourselves down to 1) The Straits Times, 2) The Business Times, 3) Today, and 4) The New Paper.

The Straits Times has a circulation of 381,354.

The Business Times has a circulation of only 29,827. (And besides, other than business folk, who reads The Business Times? Even my dad, who is a businessman, doesn’t read The Business Times.)

According to the article, Today’s circulation is around 38.67% less than The Straits Times, which puts it at around 233,885. Today is essentially Straits Times-lite, read by mostly working folk who happen to walk pass the stacks of free Todays at MRT stations and shopping malls, and read it because they don’t really have much else to do on the trains and would like to keep abreast of the news by reading snippets of news articles. Any logical person would tell you that cost notwithstanding, it would be more effective to advertise in The Straits Times as compared to Today. (But I do acknowledge that Today would be a rather attractive proposition to advertise in as well, hence its 2nd place in the survey results.)

Lastly, we are left with The New Paper (circulation of 113,984). Going by circulation alone, The New Paper is already one-third less than The Straits Times. Also, we all know that The New Paper is never going to be taken as seriously as The Straits Times in terms of international reputation and editorial quality. It’s more like a tabloid than anything else.

Note: All circulation figures taken from ABC Singapore’s website (here). Circulation figures are as at July 2007.

…

So now, is it any wonder why The Straits Times received 65.5% of the votes?

In many ways the article seems to me like they’re patting themselves on the back for what is essentially a hollow victory…for which the result was never really in doubt.

Upon scrutiny, we realise that it’s essentially a no-brainer: Only a niche marketer or a not-so-clever marketer would think of advertising in any other local publication other than The Straits Times.

So next time, when you read the results of surveys and such, dig a little bit deeper to see if the results are really what they seem to suggest.

…

Don’t you just love the way the writer of the article Nicholas Fang (who is from SPH) manages to put SPH in such a fantastic light and totally demeans the commendable effort of Today (which is under MediaCorp Press) in coming in 2nd in the survey?

The way he crafts his sentences, and the way he structures his writing perspective makes me feel that the article is totally one-sided.

Hit Job Number 1: He totally trumpets The Straits Times for topping the survey and doing so well…when after careful consideration of the facts (above), we know it’s no great achievement. “The Straits Times (ST) has emerged as the most popular newspaper in Singapore in the eyes of advertisers and their clients in a recent survey conducted by Marketing magazine” should actually read “Sensible marketers chose The Straits Times as their preferred choice to place an ad simply because it didn’t make that much sense to choose any of the other limited options.”

Hit Job Number 2: I totally love how he says “Another SPH publication, The Business Times, featured in the top three of the survey, claiming third spot, just behind the free newspaper, Today.” Wow! To me, it’s like he’s saying “SPH came in 1st…and SPH came in 3rd!!! And oh, we were only JUST BEHIND the No 2 paper from MediaCorp Press. JUST BEHIND.”  

Hit Job Number 3: He also writes “A total of 779 respondents voted for The Straits Times as their first choice, compared to just 127 who picked Today. The free tabloid-sized newspaper attracted only 23 more votes than The Business Times.” It’s like he’s saying “Look at how badly Today was trounced by our Straits Times. And oh, it only beat our 3rd place Business Times by ONLY 23 more votes. ONLY 23! I need to drill this fact into your head!”