NEWS16 June 2009

Mediamark publishes first print ad ratings for magazines

New business North America

US— Time Inc and Starcom USA have become the first clients of Mediamark Research’s (MRI) print ad ratings service, which has been in development since last July.

The AdMeasure service fuses data from MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer, its Issue Specfic Readership Study and the ad readership research carried out by MRI Starch to report audience levels for all national ads one-third of a page or larger in 640 consumer magazine issues.

MRI president and CEO Kathi Love explained: “We use our national study to statistically determine what reader variables drive ad readership and then project the MRI Starch data so they reflect an issue’s actual audience profile. Then we overlay the Starch ad readership scores with Issue Specific audience levels to create print ad ratings.”

“Historically,” she said, “a magazine’s total readership was accepted as a proxy for ad exposure but accountability-focused advertisers are demanding more direct measurement of the reach of their ad campaigns.”

MRI claims AdMeasure will elevate magazine audience measurement granularity to the level of TV and the internet. Metrics reported by the service include the number of readers who saw, read and took action over a given ad.

The agency set out to develop print ad ratings last year, following moves by the Magazine Publishers of America to introduce their own service providing syndicated issue-by-issue reporting of key demographic data, as well as recall measurement for individual ads and purchase intent for all ads.

Commenting on the launch of AdMeasure, Starcom USA’s publishing activation director Brenda White said it was “a step in the right direction”.

“Starcom believes in the power of print advertising,” she said, “and we recognise the continuing need to demonstrate to our marketer clients the genuine return on investment generated by their print advertising expenditures.”

@RESEARCH LIVE

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