20 April 2009

People who are often the first to try new supermarket brands or the latest fashions, to update their home interiors or upgrade to the latest mobile, are more likely to be heavy users of magazines than other media.

Reflecting magazines’ acknowledged role as a medium for ideas and inspiration, early adopters in a number of key product segments are found in greater concentrations among consumers who are heavily into magazines.

According to the latest Morgan Readership Survey for the 12 months to December 2008, almost three in ten Australians aged over 14 years are heavy magazine readers*, and they index higher as early adopters in many categories compared to other heavy media users.

For example, when it comes to trialling new products at the supermarket, heavy magazine readers are 25 percent more likely than the general population to be early adopters, compared to heavy commercial TV viewers who are 16 percent more likely. Heavy radio listeners index lowest as early adopters of new supermarket brands, lower than the population average, and heavy internet users index only 3 percent higher than the general public.

Magazines increase their advantage among early adopters of new food products, indexing 27 percent higher than the population and well ahead of other offline media including heavy TV viewers (indexing only 9 percent above). Heavy internet users index only 5 percent higher.

Other categories include:

- Fashion; heavy magazine users are 48 percent more likely be early adopters of the latest fashions compared to TV heavy users at only 7 percent and internet heavies at just 5 percent.

- Cosmetics; magazines score 60 percent higher than the population vs TV at just 22 percent, with other media either level with or under the population average.

- Mobile phones; heavy magazine readers are 22 percent more likely to be early adopters, competitive with heavy internet users at 27 percent, and ahead of heavy TV viewers which index just 16 percent higher. 


INDEX SCORES FOR HEAVY USERS OF MEDIA 

(Source: Morgan Single Source Jan – Dec 2008)  

* Read 5 or more magazines in the survey period