A couple of thoughts on media consumption in Ireland at Piaras Kelly PR

Published December 21st, 2006 in PR in Ireland

After noticing how many Dublin commuters read the morning freesheets, a couple of thoughts ran through my mind:

Newspaper sales are falling. However I wonder how many of those sales are as a result of the freesheets. If you were to break down sales by consumer, I’d say that you’d find marginal consumers like students barely purchasing newspapers at all anymore.
On the other hand, while sales might be falling there’s no doubt in my mind that media consumption is rising thanks to the freesheets. This is also impacted by the range of outlets that consumers can receive news like the Internet.
More and more people are getting their news online, but why? Socioeconomic forces mean that people have less time, more money and are looking for a better experience than life. As a result we tend to cram an awful lot more into our lives. If Mobile TV research is anything to go by, people want their news in snippets. If they want further insight then they’ll sit down with a paper like the Irish Times or Irish Independent for detailed analysis.

1 fmk Dec 21st, 2006 at 11:29 am

by how much are irish newspaper sales falling currently? haven’t looked at the figures in a few months, but the last time i did the point being made was how ireland was bucking the general trend. while the overall uk newspaper market was in a continual slide, the irish market was at the least holding steady.
2 Pilchard Dec 21st, 2006 at 3:08 pm

its an interesting observation. i see more and more people reading Herald AM and Metro at all times of the day - even on the evening commute.
3 ED V Dec 22nd, 2006 at 4:03 pm

Do this simple test, If you’re on a long bus or train ride and someone is using their 3G phone, offer them a newspaper that you’ve finished reading. They’ll almost always take it, put the phone down and read the paper from cover to cover.

I don’t understand why the papers are not available for sale on the trains, Often I have to rush to get to one and don’t have time to stop to purchase. However it takes seconds to accept a free paper.

Sometimes you’re forced to use new media because the old media is not available..
4 Piaras Dec 22nd, 2006 at 4:24 pm

I’d argue that people would like to flick through the freesheets than check the news on their phone to be honest.