Mag Research Reveals Newsstand Readers Younger, More Interested in Ads

Magazines that sell well on the newsstand have something new to crow about, and media planners may have some more incentive to pay attention to that "single copy sales" line on the Audit Bureau of Circulations pink sheets.

A new study commissioned by Bauer Publishing USA finds that readers who buy magazines at the newsstand are younger, more interested in ads, and more prone to shop than readers of subscribed-to magazines.

Bauer, which claims its roots in the newsstand-heavy European publishing market, is the publisher of such titles as In Touch Weekly and First for Women which often record newsstand sales upwards of 90 percent, called for the study seeking some ammunition to prove the value of its business model advertisers.

"We said, 'let's go out and learn about this reader,'" said Ian Scott, president of Bauer ad sales.

The survey, conducted by Simmons Market Research Bureau via telephone, quizzed 982 magazine readers on their magazine buying habits along with making several behavioral, attitudinal, and consumption-oriented inquiries. Thirty title-specific magazines were included in the survey, including three Bauer titles.

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Those results were then projected onto Simmons' 25,000 plus National Consumer Study panel, so that newsstand and non-newsstand readers could be evaluated against a number of consumer traits.

According to Scott, Bauer contacted 10 different research firms, including Mediamark Research Inc., but settled on Simmons for its patented ability to project the survey onto its larger research pool.

Among the study's findings were that newsstand buyers are:

- Two times as likely to enjoy reading ads in magazines - 63 percent more likely to remember products advertised in magazines when they are shopping - 48 percent more likely to shop frequently - 50 percent more likely to buy things on the spur of the moment

In addition, these readers are significantly younger; with an average age of 35.7 (15.3 years younger than subscribers). They are also 50 percent more likely to be female, more than five times as likely to be single, and more than twice as likely to be employed.

Based on this group's apparent propensity to read and to shop, Ian Scott referred to the findings as "the holy grail" that marketers are looking for.

"This really showed that there are some real differences," he said. "These guys are a bit more valuable to marketers. It's very eye-opening."

Scott believes that Bauer's newsstand sales model is often misunderstood in the United States, where subscription-based magazines have reined since the days of the Sears Catalogue. In Europe, the Bauer model is more the norm.

"Our business model is different," he said. "There has been a misunderstanding of what a newsstand publisher is. [Sometimes, we are considered} second-class citizens to subscribers."

Now that may be changing. Time Inc. launched All You last month exclusively at Wal-Mart, and word came yesterday that Hachette Filipacchi was starting a newsstand only title, For Me directed at 25- to 35-year-old women.

"There is a lot more interest in this model than there was a few years ago," Scott added.

Besides lending credence to newsstand sales, the findings of the survey would appear to support those who look to average price paid as a measure of a reader's magazine involvement, since newsstand buyers typically pay full price.

That's simply not true, says research guru Rebecca McPheters of McPheters and Company. "There is no relationship between price paid and quality [of reader]," she said. McPheters in fact conducted a study for Conde Nast and Time Inc. earlier this year that appeared to prove such.

But McPheters said that regardless of price, newsstand buyers should be considered a particularly engaged reader.

"Newsstand purchasers do constitute a responsive audience," she said.

Scott was quick to point out that Bauer's titles were priced lower, so there is no incentive to subscribe, somewhat negating the price-paid argument.

Speaking of price, Scott said that while Bauer has already received some solid feedback on the new research among the ad buying community, there are no plans to increase ad rates.

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