Role of Newspapers
The Evening Standard has interesting political views, balanced against reporting from many different angles
Research Comment | Business Travellers Survey
Targeted free copies are a valued and expected part of the service. They are ranked as a core element of the service and have a significant level of uptake. Business travellers state that they make a positive contribution to the journey.
Click here to view a vox pop on the importance of staying in touch with London whilst on business travel.
Core Element
When we look at the most important elements of on-board services identified by business travellers, things like hot meals and beverages as well as watching films or TV top the list as one would expect. But newspapers are rated only one percentage point behind tv/film and ahead of other services like snacks, alcoholic beverages and magazines.
Those who read the Evening Standard rates it the third most important on board service
Uptake
The importance of newspapers as an element in onboard service is further underscored by the frequency with which these are taken. 83% of high frequency business travellers report that they almost always take a complimentary paper.
57% of this market also report 'almost always' taking a copy when travelling by train. Although this figure may appear substantially lower than is the case for air travel, the most likely reason why the take up figure for train journeys is lower is due the lower level of availability of complimentary newspaper on train in general.
A Positive Contribution
How business travellers feel about targeted free newspapers whilst on business travel
By asking respondents a range of questions about how they feel about targeted free copies when travelling, we managed to establish that complimentary newspapers make a significant positive contribution to their journey. 44% agreed with the statement that it is a valued part of their journey, 36% view it as part of their business travel routine, 34% report that they view it as a more productive way of spending time than watching a film, 33% view it as a valued perk of business/1st class travel and 26% reported that it made them feel more valued as a customer. If we then look at how these figures compare to those who take complimentary copies of the Evening Standard, we can see an even higher level of agreement with these statements.
Greater Immersion
Business travellers are more relaxed and the enforced 'pause' of the journey allows them to immerse themselves more in the content of what they are reading.
So we’ve established that high frequency business travellers value their complimentary copy, they are in a more relaxed state and have indicated that newspapers play a significant part in their journey. But how does this impact on their actual consumption of newspapers?
In exploring how thoroughly they read newspapers, we discovered that they actually spend more time with the newspaper. 26% reported spending more time reading business news, 22% said that they read more international news and 15% agreed that they read more national news when travelling as opposed to their normal day to day readership.
Reaching the Right Mindset
- Relaxed - 50% are less stressed during a business trip than during a normal work day
- Engaged - 50% agree that they have more time to read during business travel than on their every day journey to work
- Receptive - 84% state that reading a newspaper is a good way to relax when travelling on business
For more details, or to view the presentation in its entirety please contact Marius Cloete marius.cloete@standard.co.uk
Source: Business Travel and Targeted Free Copies Research - Hall & Partners 2008
