Increased shopping centre development in Soweto over the past 18 months, has generated a marked increase in advertising interest from local businesses and particularly from national advertisers wanting to reach the rising number of affluent consumers in this area. Gill Randall, Joint Managing Director for the Newspaper Advertising Bureau (NAB) says, “At the end of March we saw a notable incline in national advertising sales throughout our ten Soweto offerings – the Urban Community Newspapers. Compared to the same period last year, national advertising sales rose by a massive 70% - the most dramatic increase in advertising support in Caxton community newspaper history". “While a lot of advertising support continues to come from retailers, we are seeing more and more support and interest from advertisers in the motoring, finance, FMCG/branded advertising and education sectors, wanting to reach this dynamic market,” adds Gill. With a combined print order of 314 000, NAB represents the following ten Soweto communities: Chiawelo Urban News; Diepkloof Urban News; Dobsonville Urban News, Eldorado Park Urban News, Jabavu Urban News, Meadowlands Urban News, Orlando Urban News, Pimville Urban News, Protea Urban News and Zola Urban News. Gill adds that with the current five shopping centres up and running in the Soweto area and with the advent of more development to follow, the advertising interest is likely to continue its upward trend.