6 May 2009

Two new US studies add weight to magazines’ media engagement proposition – time spent with magazines is quality time for advertisers, and magazines attract a reader personality type that is highly valued by marketers.

A study released last month by Conde Nast in the US, in association with McPheters & Co. and CBS Vision, found that, given equal time spent with different media, magazine ads have almost the same value as TV ads, and more than four times the value of internet ads.

The study compared the effectiveness of ads on multi-media platforms - TV (30sec.), the internet (banner ad) and magazines (FPC) – following exposure to the medium for a 30 minute period. Matched samples of respondents spent time with the medium of their choice - TV sit com, magazine title selection, or internet surfing - in controlled conditions. They then answered an online survey about ad recall. Eye-tracking technology was also employed for internet exposure.

Study highlights include:

- Within a 30 minute interval, magazines delivered more ad impressions than both TV and the internet.

- While TV ad recall was higher than magazine ad recall, recall of magazine ads was almost three times higher than internet-ad recall.

- When information on probability of exposure was taken into account, a FPC magazine ad provides 83% of the value of a TV ad (30 sec.) compared to an internet ad which has only 16% the value.

“This study provides clear evidence that time spent with a medium does not translate into value for advertisers. It also indicates that magazine advertising is undervalued relative to its effectiveness,” said Conde Nast’s head of research Scott McDonald.

Horizon Media’s Brad Adgate, quoted in US Mediaweek last month, said of the study; “There’s a lot of concern about what impact the current economy is having on print vehicles. It’s just another example that print is a viable medium in today’s digital media landscape--people still pay attention to the ads.”

In another study released this week by Mindset Media, personality traits of media users were explored using an online survey of 5,000 Nielsen Panel respondents late last year. The data provides a way of predicting media usage tendency based on the personality characteristics of different consumer groups.

Elements of personality developed by the company include leadership, openness, perfectionism and dynamism. Respondents were ranked on different traits and the findings were combined with media usage, demographic data and consumer habits.

Media profiles include:

- Magazines attract people with dynamic and open personalities, e.g. who trial new foods and have large music collections – the opposite of TV audiences which rank low on both traits.

- Top internet users also ranked high on openness and to a lesser degree on bravado, while low level internet users ranked high in dogmatism and conservatism.

- TV attracted people with low dynamism and low openness but high bravado.


Sources: www.mcpheters.com

              www.AdAge.com (04/05/09)