• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, October 6, 2010

After a year-long test period, GfK MRI is preparing to begin full cross-platform measurement of magazine readership in 2011, covering all digital platforms, including Web sites, digital editions received via email, smartphone apps, e-readers and tablets, the media research firm announced Wednesday.  

It will also begin measuring all digital readership for national newspapers next year.

To accomplish this, GfK MRI will add new questions to its in-person, in-home surveys of adults ages 18 and older, which have been tested and refined over the last year with experimental and control groups, containing 500 consumers each.

GfK MRI emphasized that the new questionnaire will be inclusive. It will provide publishers with demographic, attitudinal and behavioral data for all kinds of digital magazine readership, not just Web site visitors -- the traditional focus of digital measurement up until now.

Dr. Julian Baim, the company's executive vice president and chief research officer, stated: "This represents a significant change in the way our survey questionnaire is worded, and the result will be a much clearer picture of how consumers are reading magazines today and well into the future." He added: "Magazine publishers deserve to get full credit for the totality of their title's readership, regardless of how that readership takes place."

GfK MRI's expansion of digital platform measurement comes amid a surge of consumer interest in the new generation of e-readers and tablet computers, including Apple's iPad and Amazon's Kindle.

From April-August, Apple sold about 3.3 million iPads, and one recent forecast from iSuppli projects total sales reaching 12 million by the end of the year. Looking ahead, UBS believes total sales could hit 28 million by the end of 2011.

Separately, a new survey from Forrester Research found that 14% of U.S. Internet users plan to buy a tablet computer in the next year, compared to 13% planning on buying a laptop, 11% an e-reader, 8% a netbook and 8% a desktop computer.