The study has collated data from 2011 until Q2 2013 revealing the number of inserts placed into newspapers, newspaper supplements, magazines and catalogues as well as third-party inserts – those that appear in statement mailings, product dispatch (such as Amazon purchases), directories, free brochure requests and customer letters. 

On face value, the picture looks fairly bleak when you consider the, in some areas, drastic decline in the number of inserts placed. Not surprising with the ongoing decline in national press circulation numbers as well as paid-for magazine circulations. ABC data for H1 2013 revealed a 7.6% decline in national daily and Sunday newspaper circulation alone. 

Reflecting this, between Q2 2011 and Q2 2013 the number of inserts placed in the UK dropped 19% from 1.2bn to 969m.

Meanwhile, the number of third-party inserts, while experiencing an upsurge from 196m in Q2 2011 to 211m in Q2 2012, also went on to take a 19% tumble in Q2 last year, falling to 170m. 

According to the report, numbers declined much more sharply than anticipated in Q2 last year. However, it does suggest that data from H2 last year (due to be published in May) may point to an improvement. The DMA claims a shift in when consumers make their Christmas purchasing decisions, now much later in the year due to improved mail order reliability, could be having an impact. 

According to DMA chairman and managing director of All Response Media, CJ Court, other factors have also started to slow the decline and keep insert numbers buoyant. 

“Inserts are declining, but from a printer’s point of view, the number of pages being printed is, in many cases, actually the same if not increasing, because five years ago most inserts were single sheets, but there is more innovation now,” he says.

While traditional advertisers, such as some big retailers, left the inserts market last year, leaving a fair-sized hole, Court says a huge number of new entrants are appearing. 

“Smaller, nimbler dotcoms, home furnishing and grocery names are coming into the market looking for much more innovative inserts. Anything from four-page roll folds and page-sized inserts, to really interesting die-cuts, stickers and credit card-sized inserts.” 

Improvement in print technology, he says, is playing its part too. “Things like die-cutting technology is a lot cheaper and print is more competitive, so it has opened this up to the smaller advertisers.” 

The DMA’s report cites “an explosion of creativity” in the market. Gone are the days, it says, of the simple A5, 2pp insert. Today is about super-sized inserts, backing boards, bound-ins, tip-ons, multi-page inserts and even video in print.

Indeed Lucy Edwards, assistant managing director of marketing services firm Howard Hunt Group, says its clients are opting much more for ‘mini-catalogues’ over one-page inserts causing their number of printed pages to rise despite the overall decline in placements. 

More importantly, she says, targeting has become key. “It used to be about volumes with not much thought about targeting so it was a bit of a blanket approach, but when clients actually take time to get the creative targeting and strategy right then they work incredibly well. We are seeing amazing results and people are coming back to print more.”

Tighter aim

Head of inserts at the Telegraph Media Group, Nick Barnard, says he is also seeing a far more targeted approach giving advertisers greater success. “We, and other media owners, are doing a lot more wholesaler targeted campaigns, which means although volumes are down, as we target at a postcode level, the number of campaigns and new advertisers has actually increased. 

“National press inserts are being opened up to local retailers, which wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago. Targeting is more sophisticated, and because budgets have been cut back, those clients that want to stay in print have had to find ways of being more cost effective,” he adds.

According to Barnard, advertisers are also starting to become more cross-media savvy, with better access to enhanced data meaning that insert campaigns with specific regional targeting can be tied in with digital campaigns aimed at the same postcodes. 

“The industry has lurched from all print to all digital and now there is a bit of a correction going on. In fact, in H2 last year, we saw a number of clients returning to embrace print. Inserts have a lot in common with digital in the way they are sold and there is no reason why they shouldn’t work together,” he says.  

The DMA’s report backs this up with online retailers being among the highest users of third-party inserts, employing the offline medium to drive online sales.

Edwards says she is seeing strong evidence of this with more companies also starting to show interest in using new technologies such QR codes and augmented reality (AR). 

“We’ve just done our first AR campaign for a charity. Imagine the typical demographic there and you’d never have thought that would work, but it actually did and extremely well. 

“Inserts can work for most clients, but it’s about how much time people want to put into them,” she says.

For Court, this print-digital integration is the key to success for advertisers and something that printers must take a part in selling. 

“What advertisers have realised is that they lost customers by going online only. Now they are coming back and deciding how to include printed matter in the digital mix. This is a huge opportunity.”

“Decline in general won’t stop, but it can slow and inserts are still fighting their corner very well.” 

Collaborative working from printers with creatives and publishers, he says, will keep the market in relatively good shape.  

“We need to communicate better the possibilities of print. We need to sell and tell more loudly.”

Opinion: Make inserts as appealing as possible to advertisers

Parry Jones, head of buying, The Insert House

There’s money to be made in printing inserts and, better still, most inserts are used for new customer recruitment. The more customers a company has, the more mailings they do. Plus the cost of these mailings can be offset by yet more inserts and the more the cost of DM is offset, the more customers a client can afford to mail to. 

So how do we grow this print channel?

It’s important to encourage any company posting letters, statements, catalogues or products to customers to take third-party inserts. Not only will they generate a new revenue stream, it can also increase brand perception and catalogue response. 

We must make inserts as appealing as possible to advertisers. Cost is one way – there are still too many magazine printers who are charging publishers extortionate insertion costs. If you are charging more than £1-£4 per thousand as an insertion fee, then of course your yield is great, but you are pricing advertisers out of the market. 

When responding to a brief, printers must not only supply the price, but also an alternative spec that you can print cost-effectively. Similarly, spend time educating marketers, media and creative agencies. 

The internet has taken big chunks out of the print industry, but there are signs that things are changing. Many e-commerce businesses are finding that inserts are the most effective offline channel at driving people online.   

This is really exciting for the insert industry. But sadly the majority of advertisers cannot effectively measure what is driving online sales. The solutions to this are print-to-web technologies.

QR codes, watermarking and print-to-web tech businesses like Blippar and Aurasma can effectively follow a consumer from print to online. 

So invest in these tech businesses. As soon as it becomes standard practice for consumers to use print-to-web, more advertisers will again see the value in inserts and the industry will grow.

Reader reaction: What trends are you seeing in the printed insert market? 

Simon Biltcliffe, chief executive, Webmart

“We are seeing inserts going up in volume. Every box that goes out from a mail order company has space for inserts in it and has the benefit of not disclosing your client information when you host a third-party insert. In addition, with the advent of intelligent data-driven inserts, we are seeing an explosion of ‘smart print’ inserts and a move away from standard inserts to more personal ones that will derive higher response rates. Exciting times for the print industry – for those who understand the power of data anyway.”

Roger Pitt, chief executive, Headley Brothers

“Our insert volumes remain steady, suggesting that advertisers still recognise the value that print can deliver. Publishers increasingly use our range of inserting options, from standard cover tip-ons through to precision placement of tip-ons by hand and inserting to page. We offer ‘selective inserting’ of different combinations of inserts during the mailing process. It means our publishers can offer more targeted solutions to advertisers who can tailor their message to a segmented audience maximising ROI.”

James Povey, marketing director, Polestar

“Polestar has certainly seen an uplift in inserts recently in line with a resurgence of positive thinking about print as a cost-effective marketing medium. For Polestar, it is not just about the ability to print the insert, but the creativity and flexibility of approach to insert into host products. We always try to accommodate technically ‘out of spec’ inserts and make them run efficiently on our kit. Our plants will also do their utmost to accept the latest possible deliveries, so that clients are able to sell insert facilities ‘to the wire’.”