Recognition given to two CBS students

An analysis of weekly newspapers wins first prize at the Media Conference 2008

Local weekly newspapers are popular among readers. Many people read the free local weekly newspaper that they receive through their letter box every week. But why is the readership loyalty so great? And what can weekly newspapers do to keep their readers in a time when we are bombarded with oceans of free newspapers and reading material on the Internet?

This is what Tina Byriel Brøndum Andersen and Line Myhre Christensen?s investigated for their Master?s thesis on readership loyalty and weekly newspapers. They have both studied marketing, communication, and management at CBS and, at the beginning of February, their thesis won the first prize of 30,000 Danish kroner in a competition for postgraduate students on the future of weekly newspapers.

Readers like the local news

- Almost 80 % of the Danish people read local newspapers. Local news is something that Danish readers are most fond of. In order to keep the many satisfied readers, weekly newspapers need to focus even more on local news in the future, says Tina Byriel Brøndum Andersen.

She says that readership loyalty and satisfaction are greatest among people who live outside the large cities:

- To a great extent, this is because people who live in the country have a closer connection to their local areas. People living in the country are very interested in what happens locally, explains Tina Byriel Brøndum Andersen.

Weekly newspapers also need to improve their local image, if they want to keep their readers, says Tina Byriel Brøndum Andersen and Line Myhre Christenen, who have now graduated. Among other things, weekly newspapers need to be more active and visible in the local communities.

The Competition:

The winners of the competition on weekly newspapers of the future, which was organised by Post Danmark and the Association of Danish Weekly Newspapers, were published in connection with the Media Conference 2008. The Conference is arranged by the Association of Danish Daily Newspapers.