• by Joe Mandese , October 16, 2003

Only a day after it unveiled a new study that will serve as the centerpiece of the Magazine Publishers of America's readership research efforts, the Media Management Center at Northwestern University Thursday announced plans to begin a similar reader experience research project for the Newspaper Association of America.

The newspaper effort, which is actually part of an ongoing series of studies Northwestern is conducing for the newspaper industry, will focus on how and why specific, elusive newspaper targets read newspapers, including young adults, Hispanics, African Americans and Asian Americans.

The new research follows an earlier study that looked at the issues and behaviors driving overall newspaper readership. Both projects are part of the Readership Initiative study from the Readership Institute, an organization created by the NAA and the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) to glean a better understanding of what drives and what inhibits newspaper readership.

As such, the effort is strikingly similar to the one recently completed by the MPA, which will have its formal unveiling next week at the American Magazine Conference (MediaDailyNews Oct. 16). Both the magazine and newspaper industry initiatives coincide with a growing desire from marketers and agencies to understand not just whether consumers are exposed to media, but how they relate to the media and any advertising that might be carried by them.

The studies also are intended to be valuable marketing tools for print circulation managers and for editorial departments to better understand what dives circulation and readership.

The first stage of the new newspaper project will include research involving 52 newspapers of various sizes, chosen for their demographic makeup, location and other market characteristics. Areas that will be examined include consumer reactions to selected local dailies, the editorial and advertising content of those newspapers, and the characteristics and internal culture at the newspapers.

Initial results of the project, dubbed the New Readers Study, are slated to be presented at joint sessions of the 2004 NAA and ASNE annual conventions and the NAA Readership Conference in Washington next April.