A memo sent to TSF explains the current survey requests popping up on Sun Media's daily and weekly community newspaper websites.
Read closely, take notes. Some people have not been reading employee and reader feedback on TSF. They are puzzled by "heightened customer churn and circulation erosion."
As for design options in the survey:
Dailies:
"Identify the optimal content organization to adopt – currently community dailies all have a varied approach to paper layout."
Weeklies:
"OBJECTIVE: Determine the optimal design to adopt for all English Community Weekly products."
It is called cloning, AKA cookie cutter journalism.
Content? Two complaints we hear most often - reduced local content and content in the tabloids being repeated in community papers.
The memo:
Read closely, take notes. Some people have not been reading employee and reader feedback on TSF. They are puzzled by "heightened customer churn and circulation erosion."
As for design options in the survey:
Dailies:
"Identify the optimal content organization to adopt – currently community dailies all have a varied approach to paper layout."
Weeklies:
"OBJECTIVE: Determine the optimal design to adopt for all English Community Weekly products."
It is called cloning, AKA cookie cutter journalism.
Content? Two complaints we hear most often - reduced local content and content in the tabloids being repeated in community papers.
The memo:
COMMUNITY DAILIES – SATISFACTION RESEARCH
WHY REQUIRED:
Local publishers have experienced heightened customer churn and circulation erosion in recent months. Sun Media needs to determine the cause of this loss to determine its root cause and whether it is due to internal or external variables
OBJECTIVE:
Determine current satisfaction and value for the money perception among readers of local community newspapers. Investigate drivers of poor satisfaction – lack of local content, inclusion of Sun Media content, timeliness of delivery, redesign elements, etc.
Determine content elements that connect with readers – content importance, satisfaction with content, etc.
Identify the optimal content organization to adopt – currently community dailies all have a varied approach to paper layout.
Determine improvement opportunities to increase reader satisfaction
CAMPAIGN TIMING:
Sept 30th to Oct 14th
Can be extended if required completions are not achieved
COMMUNITY WEEKLIES – DESIGN RESEARCH
WHY REQUIRED:
Community weeklies currently have varied product designs that need to become aligned through a common design (similar to Hebdos initiative in the Quebec market)
Competing designs will be shown to readers and they will be asked to rate the design elements that are appealing
OBJECTIVE:
Determine the optimal design to adopt for all English Community Weekly products
Investigate content elements – importance, satisfaction, product organization, etc. – to ensure our weeklies are appealing to the communities they serve
METHODOLOGY:
1M impressions secured through all Sun Media English Community Dailies websites
Combination of 200K voken ads and 800K banner impressions
Online visitors who click on these ads are redirected into the Your News Views panel where they can participate in a 15 minute survey
CAMPAIGN TIMING:
Oct 2nd to Oct 16th
Can be extended if required completions are not achieved
WHY REQUIRED:
Local publishers have experienced heightened customer churn and circulation erosion in recent months. Sun Media needs to determine the cause of this loss to determine its root cause and whether it is due to internal or external variables
OBJECTIVE:
Determine current satisfaction and value for the money perception among readers of local community newspapers. Investigate drivers of poor satisfaction – lack of local content, inclusion of Sun Media content, timeliness of delivery, redesign elements, etc.
Determine content elements that connect with readers – content importance, satisfaction with content, etc.
Identify the optimal content organization to adopt – currently community dailies all have a varied approach to paper layout.
Determine improvement opportunities to increase reader satisfaction
METHODOLOGY:
1M impressions secured through all Sun Media English Community Dailies websites
Combination of 200K voken ads and 800K banner impressions
Online visitors who click on these ads are redirected into the Your News Views panel where they can participate in a 15 minute survey
1M impressions secured through all Sun Media English Community Dailies websites
Combination of 200K voken ads and 800K banner impressions
Online visitors who click on these ads are redirected into the Your News Views panel where they can participate in a 15 minute survey
CAMPAIGN TIMING:
Sept 30th to Oct 14th
Can be extended if required completions are not achieved
COMMUNITY WEEKLIES – DESIGN RESEARCH
WHY REQUIRED:
Community weeklies currently have varied product designs that need to become aligned through a common design (similar to Hebdos initiative in the Quebec market)
Competing designs will be shown to readers and they will be asked to rate the design elements that are appealing
OBJECTIVE:
Determine the optimal design to adopt for all English Community Weekly products
Investigate content elements – importance, satisfaction, product organization, etc. – to ensure our weeklies are appealing to the communities they serve
METHODOLOGY:
1M impressions secured through all Sun Media English Community Dailies websites
Combination of 200K voken ads and 800K banner impressions
Online visitors who click on these ads are redirected into the Your News Views panel where they can participate in a 15 minute survey
CAMPAIGN TIMING:
Oct 2nd to Oct 16th
Can be extended if required completions are not achieved
Heightened customer churn??? WTF.
ReplyDeleteQuote: "....heightened customer churn and circulation erosion in recent months. Sun Media needs to determine the cause of this loss to determine its root cause and whether it is due to internal or external variables."
ReplyDeleteThey're joking, right?
So, the result of this "research" will be journalism by public consensus?
what's worse, asking the question OR asking the question and not acting on it? Really this will create change for these poor communities? Take a look at your local community website, ever see the link?
ReplyDeleteUnrelated topic, story coming out PKP is attempting to bring an NHL team to Quebec City now.
ReplyDeleteDo they really need to do a survey on this? Half of the questions in the survey are geared towards newspaper staff and most readers wouldn't comprehend what is actually being asked. It also takes too much time. There's no way they will get an accurate assessment from this.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.torontosun.com/sports/hockey/2009/10/11/11370021-sun.html
ReplyDeleteI can sleep well tonight knowing my job that was cut may help PKP get the Nordiques back. Seems PKP is spending more time talking hockey than newspapers, anyone surprised?
It's simple.
ReplyDeleteThe "churn and erosion" is due to the lack of local coverage.
The erosion of the newsroom is reflected by the erosion of circulation.
Newspapers, even though privately owned, are a public trust.
Rob Lamberti
Chair, Toronto Sun Unit
CEP Local 87-M
"… due to internal … variables."
ReplyDeleteWTF? Are the serious? Internal variables? They going to blame the employees now for declining circulation? That's just great. Talk about driving morale down.
Don't worry, if PKP gets his NHL team, the players will have to rent their uniforms and the general manager will have to work from his car.
ReplyDeleteAs for this survey, it's a joke. What if people simply wants to confirm that the newspaper is doing a good job providing local coverage? What if the readers don't want some massive design change?
This survey doesn't allow for that.
Of course, no matter what the responses are, the corporate suits at Sun Media and Quebecor will twist them any way they want and ram their poorly thought out changes and "ideas" through anyway.
And if a community identifies lack of meaningful local content as the main source of discontent how will that be dealt with in the era of "cloning"?
ReplyDeleteLike they'll actually listen. At our paper when the redesign came in, we got flooded with complaints and cancellations about how they hated the new look. Many readers in our area are 50 and over and can't even read the new font size (the LFD redesign style) and we've had many people drop the paper completely.
ReplyDeleteDid our paper do anything? Nope. We were told to tell the readers that it wasn't a company decision, it was a paper decision since we're all part of a company.
What a bunch of rubbish, just like this survey. Nothing will change and they'll proceed with their centralized mandate.
CBC reports tonight that the Mayor of Quebec City has met with Gary Bettman about a new NHL team in Quebec City. They also report that PKP would be a possible backer for the team. Work hard Sun team there is a Quebec franchise to pay for.
ReplyDelete