Throughout June, an online survey was conducted by Around Ealing, to see how readers interacted with the print and digital editions of the quarterly magazine.

It was really positive to see a majority of you said you read every edition of both versions.

Almost 600 people took the time to reply. Thank you to everyone who did. And 78% of them said they classed themselves as ‘long-time residents of the borough’, with the next highest category (17%) being those who said they had been here for more than 2 years.

Around Ealing: interactive, digital edition

60% of our survey respondents said they read the digital magazine every time it came out, while 17% said they read it once or twice a year, and 19% were viewing it for the first time – reflecting the trend of more visitors arriving each edition.

The summer edition of the digital magazine received almost 48,000 visitors in June, a big increase on the number of visitors in March to the spring edition. This reflects an ongoing growth we’ve seen since introducing the digital version almost 2 years ago.

We asked readers how they tended to reach the digital edition of the magazine, and the majority (72%) said they did so via Around Ealing Extra email, our popular weekly subscriber newsletter. Do you get it? If not, you can sign up to receive it (and other emails from the council) via a ‘subscribe’ option on the Around Ealing website.

Around Ealing: print magazine

The print magazine is our longest-running publication and has been landing on doormats for more than 3 decades. It has undergone several facelifts in that time, with the latest in December.

It goes out to more than 143,000 homes and is still proving popular, with 61% in the survey saying they read every single edition of the print magazine; while 21% said they read it at least once or twice a year. Although, interestingly, 12% said they no longer read it – reflecting the fact some indicated they had switched to preferring the digital edition.

What else was said?

54% of respondents said they used all of the Around Ealing products at different times (website, magazine, email), and read the print magazine and then visited the digital version to see the videos, competitions and other interactive items. Just over a quarter (27%) only read the print magazine, and 14% said they only read the digital magazine.

When asked what style of article they preferred, 63% said they liked the mix we have as it is (community-focused stories, council updates and so on).

There was some support for the return of some interactive games, or crossword, in the digital edition (but less support for it to come back in the print edition).

Separately, half of people said they also specifically looked for the videos we run in the digital edition to accompany the stories.

Reflecting the results in the council’s latest annual, independent residents’ survey, around community-mindedness, we asked if readers had ever been prompted by one of our stories to take action, such as volunteering for a community group or starting to use a council service. Almost a quarter of respondents said they had done so, and another 66% said they could see themselves doing so.

That larger residents’ survey by the council also saw a rise in the number of people stating Around Ealing channels as being their preferred, and most common, source of information about the council. So, again, the results of the 2 surveys were complementing one another.

But, getting back to this summer’s Around Ealing Survey, we asked some other questions, around suggestions for future topics for stories. And a good number of you gave us some ideas and thoughts.

So, the Around Ealing team will be looking through this useful feedback, to see which ones might be practical to take forward in the future. There was strong agreement and repetition of subjects people said they would like to see more of, some of which had been covered before in the magazine, including sport and leisure activities in the borough. There were also some more inventive ideas that will be looked into.

Thanks again to everyone who took part.