• by Michael Shields , November 19, 2004

Add another name to the growing list of companies that are attempting to up the ante in magazine research.

Three-year-old Advertiser Perceptions Inc. is set to release the results of a pilot research study, Power Metrics, which they say will give planners a way to rank publications based on the buying power of their audiences.

And with ROI at the forefront of many marketers' minds, particularly in the magazine business, Advertiser Perceptions says they have signed up 11 of the top 13 agencies to use Power Metrics, including Zenith, Carat, Mindshare, and Mediaedge:cia.

CEO Ken Pearl believes that Power Metrics, which will release its first official wave of data in February, goes beyond audience research or even new measures of reader involvement. "We cut to the heart of it," he said. "Do they buy or don't they buy?"

Conceptually, Power Metrics is relatively simple. A panel of 7,500 respondents from a larger Harris Interactive database is asked two sets of questions, which are then cross-referenced. "Basically, it is 'What magazines do you read?' and 'What do you buy?'" said Pearl.

Power Metrics can produce rankings by specific brands, products, and categories. Theoretically, planners could select magazines that rank highly against purchasers of their product or a competitor's brand.

Power Metrics also purports to measure the reading habits of brand influencers--i.e., those that claim to tell their friends what to buy, which would likely appeal to advertisers of high-ticket items like autos or technology.

Pearl is adamant about not being considered a competitor to Mediamark Research (MRI), despite the fact that the company's twice-a-year magazine survey does include product data.

"MRI has usage data," he said. "The big differentiator [for Power Metrics] is the purchase intent information."

Another major competitive advantage Pearl sees is speed. "Most syndicated research comes out once or twice a year, and has a huge lag time," he said.

Power Metrics will come out quarterly, and the numbers are compiled within 30-45 days after the study is conducted (Pearl says that MRI takes much longer to release data).

Of course, Power Metrics will not measure actual return on investment tied to any specific magazine advertising campaign; it goes no further than identifying magazine readers who are buyers of particular products. But advertisers appear to be swayed.

"We're looking forward to utilizing Power Metrics in our planning and evaluation of print media," said Steve Greenberger, Senior Vice President, Director of Print Services, ZenithOptimedia, in an Advertiser Perceptions press release.

In addition to Power Metrics, Advertiser Perceptions also produces the Advertiser Intelligence Report, which provides 65-plus publishers information on how their magazines are perceived by the media buying community.