Growth guarantees will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis, but Meredith already has the research setup in place to measure the effects of its ad pages.

Working with Nielsen, Meredith has identified a selection of panellists within the research firm’s consumer purchase panel, Homescan, who also subscribe to its magazines. Alongside this is a control group who aren’t subscribers but match the test group in terms of purchase behaviour, geography and demographics.

Using this approach the partners can isolate the effect of exposure to Meredith magazines, which include titles such as Better Homes & Gardens, Parents, Family Circle and American Baby.

The partners validated the approach with a year-long study of higher frequency ad campaigns that ran in Meredith titles during 2009 and 2010. It found that advertisers in categories such as beauty, household goods, OTC drugs and food were able to increase their product sales by an average of 10%.