Surprisingly, yes.
Seattle's Market Characteristics
Seattle is home to about 686,800 people as of 2016. That total has increased by at least 75,000 since 2010. The only things that haven't been expanded upon are all other statistics about Seattle's population after 2010. Yikes.
In 2010, the largest age demographic (nearly 3/4 of the population) was classified as ages 18 to 64, with the highest concentration in ages 25 to 34. Correlating data shows that a whopping 58.9 percent of the population has at least a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to the national average of 29.8 percent.
Actual Advertising within The Seattle Times
Now, if we were stuck in a time warp stranding us in 2010, The Seattle Times would be right on target with the advertising published in their newspaper. Of the 45 ads within the February 9, 2017 issue (not counting The Seattle Times' house ads), 17 of those were related to home improvements. According to Zillow, half of all home buyers are under the age of 36. If these advertisers were trying to reach Seattle's most prominent age demographic (ages 25 to 34), they hit it right on the money.
The next largest category of advertising with the newspaper was health-related, including topics of Viagra, Diabetes, hearing aids and joint pain. This all clearly points to the other end of Seattle's largest age group (45 to 64).
The rest of the ads were related to topics of investment and trading companies, banks, travel and vacation homes, jewelry, education, food, law firms and retirement communities. All of these topics can be tied to that age range of 18 to 64 quite clearly, while maybe weighing heavier on one side or the other. The point is, again, if we were stuck in 2010, The Seattle Times and its advertisers are right on the money.
If you'd like to check out their media kit, here is the link: http://mediakit.seattletimes.com/advertising-platforms/print/
If you do end up taking a look, take a gander at the "Zoned Newspaper Display Program." The Seattle Times has now made it possible to only publish your ad in the paper in the area you want it to go to (zone-specific). Genius, right?
Until the United States Census Bureau releases current information regarding Seattle's market demographics, The Seattle Times and its advertisers are looking pretty good. Let's see if they keep up with their research like they are supposed to, and keep "proactive" and "reactive" in the right order.
References:
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/5363000,00http://mediakit.seattletimes.com/audience-market/seattle-market/
https://www.zillow.com/research/zillow-group-report-2016-13279/
