Even newspaper advertisers, long seen as favoring traditional media, are increasingly shifting their ad spend to digital. More and more these SMBs are exploring the advertising opportunities digital media has to offer and with that spending is shifting in the digital direction.

BIA/Kelsey dives into the changes happening with newspaper SMBs in its newest “Spotlight” report based on data from Wave 17 of the Local Commerce Monitor™(LCM). This report is the most recent in the ongoing “Spotlight” series that drills down into the LCM data to examine how SMB advertisers acquire and retain customers.

LCM is BIA/Kelsey’s long-running study of how U.S. SMB advertisers are evolving their use of media to acquire and retain customers.

According to this LCM data, newspaper SMBs are not so behind the times when it comes to advertising. Of the top 10 media used for advertising and promotions by these SMBs, five are digital media with the top three being Facebook, email and Google. Given that information, spending on digital/online advertising is projected to increase over the next year.

In particular, owned media (business-controlled channels and properties; i.e., Facebook Page, blog, email marketing list) is a sector of digital where these SMBs will be shifting their attention and dollars. Nearly half of newspaper SMBs rated their owned media assets as “highly important.”

Interested in learning more about LCM Wave 17 or getting a custom cut for your business? Check out BIA/Kelsey’s LCM page.

We’ll be covering this and other themes in great depth at our upcoming Leading in Local conference, December 10-12 in San Francisco. Be there and join the conversation!