Mag Bag: Affinity Plans Comprehensive Surveys

by Erik Sass, Jul 23, 2009, 5:54 PM

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Upping the ante in the magazine research game, Affinity Research is expanding its Print Effectiveness Rating Service, with plans to measure the effectiveness of national ads in every issue of top business and consumer magazines beginning in 2010.

This move will give advertisers and publishers more insight into the performance of print campaigns -- not to mention an alternative (or complement) to magazine measurement by Mediamark Research and Intelligence.

In its expanded ratings service, Affinity will measure every issue of the top 50 Vista publications (as determined by print ad revenue figures) -- mostly monthly magazines. Weekly magazines will be measured at least 12 times a year. Along with more print ad effectiveness ratings, Affinity is also introducing audience size projections with its new American Magazine Study. All additional data will be available to subscribers through the existing Vista Views reporting system.

In response to demands for more precise metrics from publishers and advertisers, Affinity and its competitor MRI have both moved to include audience data and measurement of ad effectiveness.

In June, MRI debuted its "AdMeasure" report, with precise ratings for individual ads showing not only audience exposure but also subsequent actions. The new research product launched with inaugural subscribers -- including Time Inc. -- on the publisher side and Starcom USA on the agency side. Some of AdMeasure's data comes from MRI's flagship product, "The Survey of the American Consumer," as well as its new issue-specific readership study. The data on audience figures are combined with data from MRI Starch (formerly GfK Starch), a division of MRI, which surveys readers to determine how magazine ads affect brand perception, recall, and purchase behavior, among other things.

September Ad Pages Tumble at Conde Nast

September is proving to be a fairly disastrous month for Conde Nast, according to reports in Ad Age and the New York Observer, which say ad pages are steeply down at every major title, with an overall drop of 37%. Among the biggest losers are W, down 53%, Allure and Gourmet, down 51% each, and Self, down 50%. Flagships Vogue and Vanity Fair both dropped 36%, Glamour is down 41%, Details 34%, GQ 31%, Wired 41%, and Lucky 36%. While the economic downturn is partly to blame, the shortfall is also blamed on the absence this year of Fashion Rocks, an event hosted by Conde Nast during Fashion Week that boosts all the fashion titles.

Bonnier Ups Rate Base for Parenting School Years

Parenting School Years, one of two spinoffs created when Bonnier split Parenting in February (the other is Parenting Early Years), is increasing its rate base by 50,000 to 550,000, effective with the February 2010 issue. This will be the first rate base increase for Parenting since 2001, bringing the total rate base for the two magazines to 2.2 million. In August, Parenting School Years plans to publish 200,000 copies of a custom back-to-school guide for distribution through schools and pediatricians' offices.

Min Out, Steele Named Acting EIC, Us Weekly

Janice Min is not renewing her contract as editor in chief of Us Weekly when her current contract expires in less than two weeks. Temporarily replacing her is Mike Steele, who has been promoted to acting editor in chief of Us Weekly.

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