Flyers still No.1 medium in Japan

Uprise of flyers in Japan's ad markets is proven by the profits they have generated, beating other ad mediums like magazins and radio.

By Ko Dong-hwan

Slipped inside each newspaper with colorful visuals and extra shopping info, the good old flyers are taking over Japan’s ad markets, according to the Electronic Times Tuesday.

The leaflets drew a total ad-generated capital pool of 510 billion yen last year alone, beating magazines (250 billion yen) and radio (124 billion yen).

Compared to 2005, when print ads marked their peak, flyers last year shrank by 23.4 percent. Print paper ads dropped by 40.5 percent, magazines 48.4 percent and radio 30.1 percent.

Flyers’ rising market share owes to an increasing proportion of readers. A survey in Japan showed 71.9 percent of respondents check out flyers at least once a week. The core reader group was older females; 89.3 percent of women in their 60s regularly read flyers.

Flyers also prevent demise of newspaper agencies. Although the gradual fall of print journalism is losing both subscribers and need of the agencies, flyers bring profits to the agencies at rates of 80-90 percent.