News

What's up at Spark

Things are always busy at the Spark Media offices. Take a look at what we've been up to lately:

News | Tag: research

SA women prefer local titles (for most of their media needs)

August 07 2025 By Spark Media local newspaper, print media south africa, roots research, female consumers, advertising inserts, sa women news habits, shopping behaviour, local advertising engagement, print vs digital media, community newspapers

South African women are highly active print consumers, reading local newspapers and readily engaging with advertising and printed inserts in their local paper. Brand new ROOTS research shows that local women are more connected than ever, ranking print highly on their list of preferred media. ROOTS is South Africa's longest running and most comprehensive independent local consumer research survey, conducted at community level, surveying the behavi...

Print still a critical part of retailers' advertising mix - European research

June 12 2025 By Spark Media print advertising, retail marketing, consumer behaviour, advertising research, promotional flyers, digital vs print, retail trends, marketing strategy, shopper insights, advertising mix, south african retail, international case studies, caxton roots, grocery marketing, flyer effectiveness

With more South African consumers getting online via smartphones, and digital advertising increasing in response, brands often question the relevance of print advertising. Growing bodies of research point to the fact that print ads are still a vital part of the advertising mix, especially for retailers, where recent European research showed that removing printed retail catalogues had a detrimental impact on consumer store visits. The research too...

New advertising opportunities for retailers as loadshedding changes consumer purchase patterns

January 29 2024 By Spark Media research, loadshedding, shopping

How is loadshedding impacting economically active South Africans when it comes to the main meal of the day? Are they putting different items into their shopping baskets to help them prepare loadshedding-friendly meals, or are they changing what, when and how they eat to deal with this ongoing challenge? As a specialist in local media, and in connecting brands with local communities through print and digital advertising solutions informed by resea...

ROOTS 8.0 research

November 21 2022 By Spark Media roots, research, print, south africa, local news

ROOTS 8.0 is a consumer research tool covering shopping habits, the home, food and groceries, entertainment, fashion and beauty, finance, technology, readership and pathway to purchasing decisions made in local South Africa. The ROOTS 8th release independently sampled 97 local communities, covering all the major centres in South Africa from Polokwane to Plettenberg. A total of 23,000 adults aged 18+, representing 9.3 million adults and 3.9 millio...