Distribution: the lifeblood of printed matter
While all printed publications worthy of the name have an online presence, the Pattaya marketplace remains one where the physical entity is as important as it ever was.
The average person still likes to thumb through a physical publication, and, not just in Pattaya. While the digital and online revolution was being heralded as the death-knell of print, the reality across the world is that print remains not just alive, but generally thriving.
The biggest hurdle for print to overcome is distribution. In order to be successful, readers need to be able to find the physical product and in this regard the Business Supplement can proudly boast to having one of the best networks in Pattaya.
As most regular readers will be aware, the Business Supplement is included within each day’s edition of the Newspaper Direct network. This means copies of the monthly magazine are being sent out every day to a multitude of locations which carry the daily editions of the world’s newspapers.
As well, the management of the Business Supplement is keen to ensure the best eyes-on-the-page result for advertisers by recently expanding its distribution by combining with the Pattaya Brochure & Media Distribution company to add another 40+ locations where readers can access the magazine.
These locations stretch from Jomtien to central Pattaya and cover hotels, shopping malls and bus stations, with the Business Supplement placed prominently within the racks provided at each of these locations (see the list below).
In a recent issue of the satirical, long-running British publication Private Eye it was wryly noted, ‘Only a few years ago the death of TV advertising was widely predicted in adland- proof, if it were needed, that no one in advertising knows anything. Agencies, urging clients to go digital, confidently told them the internet would soon be the only game in town. All wrong! A record £5.27bn was spent in the UK last year on TV advertising, a rise of more than 7 percent since 2014…’
Yes, the above relates to television advertising, but the same can be said for radio and print. The 1980 song ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ proved to be wrong, as video didn’t kill the radio star, and radio remains as viable today as it ever was.
As with television and radio advertising, print remains a viable medium for any business to promote their product or services. The death of print was predicted in 1944 in a book called The Disappearing Daily, by Oswald Villard.
In 2011, a division of the University of Southern California claimed ‘the only newspapers in America that will survive in print form will be at the extremes of the medium- the largest and the smallest.’ It suggested this would take place within five years.
Yet, as we roll on towards the middle of 2016 the reality is that printed newspapers and magazines remain popular; certainly nowhere near the dominance they had before the internet age, but far from having disappeared into the black hole of history as predicted by so many.
