'Big Five' package delivers unprecedented reach of black consumers

Based on a study of statistics provided by the Bureau of Market Research, R36 billion of the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape retail market will be attributed to black consumers this year. The Big Five package covers five newspapers and is aimed at reaching the economic hubs of Durban, Pietermaritzburg, East London and Port Elizabeth. The package's collective circulation is every advertiser's dream at 225 262 compared to 32 838 for City Press, 7341 for Sowetan and 56 865 for Isolezwe (according to January - June 2004 ABC figures) in the same geographical area.

Andy Stanton, Marketing Manager of Ilanga says, "The Big Five is a lethal combination that offers a potential readership of more than 2.1 million every week. KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape have the heaviest concentrations of black people in South Africa, these are the markets of the future. The two provinces combined have a retail market of about R64 billion this year and black households already account for more than half of that spend."

According to Gill Randall, Joint Managing Director of NAB: "The black consumer market is growing exponentially and the Big Five package offers marketers and advertisers a unique and cost effective opportunity to reach the more affluent and economically active black consumers in both provinces."

Ilanga, published twice weekly, is the leading black newspaper in KZN with particularly fervent circulation in Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Umafrika on the other hand is a well-established weekly newspaper that caters for a special niched market. The other three titles are also weeklies with Echo's distribution reaching consumers in Pietermaritzburg and as the sole black titles within the area, Indabazethu is distributed to East London while Ilizwi is circulated to Port Elizabeth.