POV Magazines Have Never Been In A Better Position To Prove Their Value To Advertisers — By Kathi Love, MRI President & CEO

The magazine industry has long been criticized for being slow to respond to advertisers’ demands for accountability metrics. And it’s only fair that magazines are held to the same evaluation standards as other media—since advertisers are under increased pressure to show how every dollar spent delivers results. There have been years of study and discussion—by, among others, the Magazine Publishers of America—and a fair amount of debate about how magazines can better prove their advertising ROI.

The good news is that the magazine industry now has the metrics needed to make this shift to selling on accountability possible.

Mediamark Research & Intelligence started down the path of improving ROI metrics for magazines more than three years ago by devoting a significant part of our R&D efforts to producing issue-specific audience estimates, allowing magazine advertisers (for the first time) to gauge the reach of their specific magazine ad campaigns. Now, with three years of data from our Issue Specific Readership Study at hand, we have a much better understanding of audience variation from one issue of a magazine to the next, including the factors that make certain issues achieve a higher-than-average readership. No longer is the industry dependent upon a six-month average issue audience number as the sole readership reach metric.

Going a step farther, MRI recently combined learning from MRI Starch®, our national Survey of the American Consumer® and the Issue Specific Readership Study to take print ROI measurement to a new level by producing AdMeasure, which calculates how many readers saw or took an action after seeing a specific ad in a specific magazine. 

As marketers continue to try to determine which mix of media vehicles will produce the greatest ROI, publishers must make sure these advertisers know the different ways they can view ROI for their print campaign. Fact: what metric you use makes a difference in estimating ROI. For instance, the accompanying chart is based on a real-world 2008 print advertising schedule for a well-known financial services company. MRI looked at 21 of this advertiser’s insertions spread across one bi-monthly, three bi-weekly, three weekly and 14 monthly titles. The numbers show that, based on circulation, the advertiser paid, on average, an approximately $171 CPM (cost per thousand), one of the highest averages among the five different methods of measuring CPM. The lowest CPM — at a bit above $37 — was derived using MRI’s Issue Specific Study, which of course takes into account the total audience for the issues in which this advertiser ran. Using the new MRI AdMeasure calculation of the number of readers who report they saw the ad — a much more important ROI metric for most print advertisers — the ad campaign cost $61 for every one-thousand ad readers. Finally, using even the ultra fine-tuned AdMeasure assessment of how many readers took an action as the result of seeing the ad (such as visiting the advertiser’s website or purchasing the product), the CPM was $193 — more, but not much more, than the CPM based on circulation. If this advertiser or their agency used circulation alone to gauge the cost of their magazine campaign, they would be doing a real disservice to the perceived value of magazines. Moreover, they would not get a true sense of the impact of their campaign—since they are arguably more interested in how many consumers took action as a result of seeing their ad than they are in knowing the number of copies the magazines distributed. AdMeasure metrics lessen advertisers’ historic uncertainty about whether readers are seeing the ads within the pages of a given title.

Recognizing the importance of providing advertisers with true accountability measures for print spending, leading companies such as Time Inc. and Starcom USA have endorsed MRI’s latest enhancements to magazine audience measurement. There is no equivalent measure to circulation in any other medium; buyers don’t negotiate TV advertising based on the number of households that own a TV, for instance. Moreover, other media have evolved their audience measurement techniques to produce ever more granular data that facilitate true ROI analyses. After 65 years of program-based ratings, for instance, TV recently moved to C3 commercial ratings. The time is now for magazines to leverage ROI metrics that fully promote the medium’s value to advertisers.

Product Portfolio AdMeasure: Every Ad…In Every Issue...Of Every Magazine

MRI’s AdMeasure is expanding five-fold. In 2010, every magazine issue measured by MRI’s Issue Specific Readership Study will be included in the AdMeasure service.

The industry’s first ad ratings service for major consumer magazines, AdMeasure elevates magazine audience measurement granularity to the level of TV and the Internet. It provides advertising audience estimates for national ads one-third of a page and larger.

In 2010, every issue of nearly 200 major consumer magazines will be included in the service, providing measurements for approximately 3,100
magazine issues and 155,000 ads. AdMeasure currently provides metrics for 646 issues spread over 112 magazine titles. With this expansion, AdMeasure becomes large enough to be a syndicated currency for print ad measurement. Print advertisers and their agencies will have reliable ROI metrics for effectively all insertions comprising their print campaign—as well as those of their competitors. This brings magazine ROI metrics to the next level of utility.

"By so vastly expanding the number of titles and issues being measured, MRI is allowing magazines to offer accountability-focused advertisers ROI insights for virtually every one of their insertions,” says Betsy Frank, Chief Research and Insights Officer at Time Inc. "With MRI taking the lead to produce these ad-specific ROI metrics, magazines are in a great position to prove their value and accountability to advertisers.”

“When we launched AdMeasure a few short months ago, we knew there would be a phase two,” said President and CEO of MRI Kathi Love. “Online panel sources have various biases and MRI wanted to ensure we could combine the several disparate panels needed to produce ratings for so many issues in a way that controlled for that bias. After much analysis, we’re now comfortable that we can effectively do this and offer the marketplace high-resolution ad ratings for virtually every ad in every issue of the major national consumer magazines.”

"MRI’s expansion of the AdMeasure database adds dimensions of scale and granularity for those looking to gauge the effectiveness of their print advertising campaigns – something that we consistently strive for at Starcom," said Starcom USA Senior Vice President/Publishing Activation Director Brenda White. “With this move, MRI has taken another big step towards helping to substantiate the power of print for marketers pursuing better proof of return on objectives.”

AdMeasure’s print ad ratings are derived from:

• MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer, the industry standard for measuring the average issue audience of consumer magazines;
• The Issue Specific Readership Study, which measures readership for individual issues of magazines;
• MRI Starch, the leader in ad readership research.

AdMeasure sharpens the focus of magazine accountability by moving the needle from measuring the ‘opportunity to see’ a print ad to measuring how many readers actually saw the ad, as well as how many took an action as a result of seeing it.

Click here to see the 5-minute Webcast introducing AdMeasure. Or for more info, contact us.

Creative Client Bigger Is Better: Starcom USA and Condé Nast Prove Fall Fashion Ad-Intense Magazines Deliver Value

If you want to button up your media plan, Fall Fashion magazines are the place to be. Just ask readers; more than one-third will tell you that these special issues are of greater value than standard issues.

Condé Nast and Starcom partnered with MRI to conduct a Fall Fashion study on the impact of advertising in special magazine issues. The results show that readers see Fall Fashion magazines as “bigger is better.”

“Fall Fashion issues have long been the focus of advertiser interest and energy. With this study, integrating syndicated Starch with custom questions, we at last can quantify the remarkable impact that these issues have with readers,” said Dr. Scott McDonald, SVP Market Research for Condé Nast.

“The ability to merge reader engagement and issue specific data helps us better understand the varied aspects of readers’ relationships to magazines, in this case to the highly promoted Fall Fashion issues,” said Vice President, Research Director Starcom Judy Bahary.

Nearly 9,000 readers of 11 magazines (Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, Lucky, Marie Claire, Vanity Fair, Vogue, W) were surveyed and approximately 1,600 ads were tested to assess the impact of special issues on readers’ thoughts and actions.

While Starcom and Condé Nast are using the results for different purposes, the key findings show that advertising in Fall Fashion issues provides unique benefits. “This research gives us insights about core audiences’ experience and engagement with Fall Fashion issues that we can apply to developing integrated campaigns for clients,” said Ms. Bahary.

“The study came out in time for the selling season for the 2009 Fall Fashion issues. Needless to say, many of our magazines incorporated its findings into their marketing materials since the study demonstrated so amply the power of these issues to generate buying interest among readers,” said Dr. McDonald.

Here is a sample of findings:

• One-fifth of respondents said they could not live without these issues, proving that a cluttered environment does not adversely impact consumer behaviors and attitudes towards Fall Fashion issues.
• Nearly one-quarter (23%) of September issue readers solely pay attention to fashion advertisements in these issues (as opposed to editorial coverage).
• Over one-third of respondents agreed that these issues were of greater value than a standard issue.
• 82% recalled ad spreads of six pages and 50% recalled one-page ads.
• 49% think these magazines specially selected the ads that ran in that issue.
• The average household income for September issue readers is $76,556, versus $62,878 for other months.
• Readers who shop at high-end department stores and designer boutiques have the highest ad recall and are most likely to take action, compared with those who shop at mass or mid-level stores.

“High engagement with Fall Fashion issues and their advertised brands gives marketers a key opportunity to reach readers, putting to rest any concern that these issues are too big for ads to get attention,” said Senior Vice President MRI Starch Communications Mickey Galin. “This study shows how the issues increase brand affinity and purchase intent among readers, along with other desirable affects."

Because You Asked What is Composition Targeting and Why is It Important?

Composition Targeting is a proprietary algorithm used to project raw MRI Starch scores to ensure metrics represent represent each issue's true readership profile. It was developed by MRI statisticians and is used in AdMeasure, the industry’s first print ad ratings service. MRI’s broad range of knowledge about each title’s readership makes such projection possible.

This algorithm takes into account key variables that affect ad ratings such as male/female skew, at-home or out-of-home readership and frequency of reading.

Composition Targeting corrects for opt-in online sample bias which can misrepresent a magazine’s audience profile and, in turn, affect individual ad audiences. For example, MRI looked at 9,600 ads running in consumer magazines between October ’08 and March ’09 and found the changes in their ad noting scores ranged between -18% and +15% after the Composition Targeting algorithm was applied. The automotive ad (below) running in an entertainment title had a difference of nearly 2.7 million ad noters, pre-and post-Composition Targeting. Without this adjustment, an agency or publication would have understated the ROI for the advertiser by that many consumers. The dog food ad offers an example of how Composition Targeting can also result in a lower number of ad noters.

Ad effectiveness errors can have a significant impact on an ad’s ROI, particularly when extrapolated across an entire campaign. Composition Targeting provides greater confidence in the noted, read or took action AdMeasure estimates. For more information about Composition Targeting, please contact us.

Behind The Numbers Three Things You Should Know About Print Ads That Sell — By Michal Galin, SVP, Research, MRI Starch

The strategic goal behind every print advertisement is probably a bit different. Some ads are designed to build an image; some are written to drive readers to a Web site; and some announce a limited-time offer. But, at their core, most marketers hope the time, money and creativity that goes into developing their advertising campaign moves the needle in terms of sales.

MRI Starch set out to learn exactly what makes a print ad sell. We’re in a unique position to make this evaluation since during our surveys we ask print readers: “As a result of seeing this ad, did you purchase the product/service”? One caveat: The research purist in me needs to point out that common sense tells us that viewing an ad is only ONE of several factors that drive purchase. Nonetheless, this analysis is based on the number of consumers who told us they did just that—read the ad and, as a result, bought the product or service.

We looked at 297 magazine issues measured by MRI Starch between October 2008 and April 2009. For each product category, we looked at the top-performing ad in terms of driving purchase. Moreover, the top-performing ad needed to have driven at least 15% of readers to purchase to make the cut.

Here’s what we learned:

Context Matters: Many of the ads that drove purchase were of natural interest to the readers of the magazines in which they appeared. Ads for America’s Milk Processors (55% of ad readers purchased), Vaseline Clinical Therapy Body Lotion (26% of ad readers purchased) and Lipitor (18% of ad readers purchased), for instance, all stress wellness and healing...and all appeared in Health Magazine. The Discovery Channel Dirty Jobs ad appeared in Maxim, whose audience is largely male. Let’s face it—dirty jobs may be more interesting to men than women; 21% of ad readers said they watched the show as a result of seeing this ad. So too with the James Bond-themed Swatch ad in Wired, another male-oriented title. This was the top ad in the Watch category—and I think it’s safe to say that, in general, more men than women wish they were James Bond! Moreover, the TurboTax ad in US Weekly appeared a mere five weeks before the dreaded April 15th Tax Day—and 27% of ad readers said the ad sparked their purchase.

Price May Matter: None of these purchase-driving ads promote expensive products, such as automobiles, vacations or home appliances. Much time and consideration typically go in to those kinds of purchases, so it's less likely that a single ad would be the driver to purchase. However, that is evidently not always the case for lower-cost purchases. After all, if the purchase turns out to be a mistake, the financial harm is slight.

Brand Perception Matters: Before MRI Starch asks readers about individual ads, we ask their opinion about the brands advertised. What we found is that if the reader is favorably disposed to the brand, there is a much greater chance that they will purchase the brand’s product or service being advertised. In fact, four of the nine categories looked at had more than 90% of readers saying they were favorably disposed to the brand, including it being one of their favorites. Clearly, brand advocates and brand enthusiasts are more likely to read the brands’ advertising messages.

With this in mind, see what print ads were best in class in driving purchase.

	AMERICA’S MILK PROCESSORS Publication: Health Magazine, 04/2009 Category: Dairy Products & Substitutes % of Ad Readers who Purchased as a Result of Reading the Ad: 55% % of Readers Favorably Disposed to the Brand: 89%
	WELCH’S 100% GRAPE JUICE Publication: Prevention Magazine, 03/2009 Category: Vitamins, Nutrition Supplements, Reducing Aids % of Ad Readers who Purchased as a Result of Reading the Ad: 46% % of Readers Favorably Disposed to the Brand: 94%
See the other print ads that were best in class in driving purchase.

New and Noteworthy Tweeting With MRI At Twitter.com/MRINews

Follow our Tweets and you, too can be “In the know.”

MRI Ranked #1 in Survey of Market Research Buyers

Buyers of syndicated research ranked MRI #1 on overall quality, satisfaction and value for money in the U.S. survey of client satisfaction conducted by Inside Research and Prevision Corp.

Respondents to the survey spent an average of $10 million annually on market research. They cited, on an unaided basis, more than 600 custom quantitative and syndicated research suppliers, and averages were computed for each supplier by attribute (e.g., overall satisfaction, satisfaction with data quality, value for money).

New Data To Bring You New Insights

MRI’s most recent data release, Wave 60/Spring 2009, includes new product, psychographic, advertising and TV data. See the new data here. Also review changes to the questionnaire currently in the field.