MRI Offers More Magazine Issue-Specific Data

Mediamark Research and Intelligence, a leading magazine research firm, is expanding its Issue-Specific Readership Study to include age, education and income data. The age data, detailing age segments 18-34, 35-54, and 55+ has already been incorporated into MRI client reports, which already include data on gender breakdowns. The data on education and income will be incorporated by August.

The issue-specific study supplements MRI's twice-yearly Survey of the American Consumer with data charting the accumulation of magazine audiences over time. The survey offers an array of demographic data, but until now, the supplementary issue-specific study included only a few of these categories.

MRI was spurred to include such data due, in part, to answer criticism from magazine publishers and advertisers that said the issue-specific measure wasn't comprehensive enough. In particular, they said it suffered in comparison with other media metrics that offer more detailed information on both the size and composition of audiences, especially online metrics from Nielsen, comScore and others.

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The industry argued that magazine metrics needed to include more descriptive demographic data, in addition to the precise measurement of audience accumulation over time -- the main innovation offered by MRI's issue-specific measurement when the weekly online survey launched in May 2006.

In March, the Magazine Publishers' of America turned up the heat with a RFP for a new metric based on magazine audience, which would deliver issue-specific audience data to advertisers within six-to-eight weeks of publication. The metric would track "exposure," defined as "syndicated issue-by-issue data and key demographics, such as age, gender, income, ethnicity and family status," as well as "engagement," defined as recall of individual ads in specific issues, and "action-taking," including consideration, purchase intent and Web activity. MRI isn't the only magazine research firm to offer faster, more comprehensive reporting. In June GfK Starch incorporated data from its new eStarch surveys into Adnorms, an annual pub that shows readership scores for 37,000 magazine ads, appearing in 840 issues of 125 consumer magazines from a four-year period between 2004-2007. The data from eStarch includes "brand disposition" scores--meaning how many readers ranked the brand as a "favorite," as well as data documenting "word of mouth" and "actions taken." Last year, the Audit Bureau of Circulations launched Rapid Report, a service that makes magazine circulation data available within a few weeks of the publication date.

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