Three more urban newspapers from Caxton

9 Oct 2007

Due to hit the streets at the end of October 2007, Caxton's Daveyton Urban News and the Etwatwa Urban News will serve the previously disadvantaged areas in Benoni. The third title, the West Side Urban News, is specifically geared for the communities of Riverlea, Bosmont, Newclare, Westbury, Coronationville and Claremont, and will see 20 000 copies delivered directly to the doorstep of readers.

An upbeat Urban Newspaper's CEO, Kevin Keogh, says the reader response of the group's 10 current Urban News community newspapers proved the need for community mouthpieces in historically underprivileged societies. "The success of these papers was achieved by the confidence and loyal support of a handful of advertisers who threw their weight and foresight solidly behind us," he says.

Gill Randall, joint MD of the Newspaper Advertising Bureau (NAB), explains that these advertisers understand the need for community newspapers in Soweto and other communities. "Shoprite was at the top of our list and gleaned the support of these communities," she says.

All Caxton Urban Newspapers are free and delivered door-to-door. Randall explains that Daveyton and Etwatwa act as dormitory suburbs for nearly all of the major Ekurhuleni towns. "Apart from the Daveyton Mall, readers from this area depend on shops and malls from a myriad surrounding areas for their day-to-day and larger purchases," she explains.

"Direct line"

Daveyton Urban News will be distributed weekly to 45 000 homes, while the same number of the Etwatwa Urban News will make their way to the reader's doorstep. "Advertisers have a direct line to their consumers in this previously untapped market," says Randall. Caxton believes in using local entrepreneurs and distribution networks, allowing Daveyton and Etwatwa to receive total-coverage delivery.

Readers of the West Side Urban News are devoid of their own major retail infrastructures and are thus dependant on large malls and shopping centres varying distances from their homes. "This provides retail outlets based in various shopping centres including Highgate; Campus Square; Flora Centre; Hillfox Power Centre; Southgate Mall, and Cresta as the ideal platform to reach their consumers," she says.

Caxton Urban Newspapers already reach an estimated 1.25 million readers in Soweto. These are family newspapers with family news and family values. Editorial staff come from the areas in which they report and have strong ties with the communities they serve. "The result has been an influx of community news and advertising content that has enabled the papers to identify with their areas of distribution," Randall concludes.