In 1997, revenues from commercial inserts exceeded the amount of all other advertising in American newspapers for the first time. Even the economic slowdown had scarcely any detrimental effect on the insert boom in the USA. The volume of inserts in the Sunday papers was sometimes enough to overload the finishing capacity in mailrooms, so publishing companies were forced to set up separate inserting centers.

Historically, editorial sections preceded the popularity of advertising supplements. The inherent technical limitation brought about by the fact that, due to the growing page count, newspaper presses could not print the entire newspaper in a single pass demanded progress.

Worth holding onto
Inserts that can be produced irrespective of the day are particularly suited to preprints and enable a more interesting product makeup. As more color found its way into newspapers in the wake of the 1990, a virtue was made of the necessity for inserting (preprinted sections), as only smaller sections allowed more color.

Zoning for readership-targeted advertising
Technical circumstances greatly encouraged zoning (different sections in different editions) and the production of special-interest supplements. Readers appreciate these sections which are often published in tabloid format, and therefore, are worth holding onto, while advertisers and publishers aim for the reader loayalty and readership-targeted advertising.

Flexible inserting systems from Muller Martini have many jobs. These include ensuring that preprinted products arrive quickly, reliably and in the correct main section as well as making certain that newspapers reach the right dock, the right truck and the right recipient.