• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 10, 2007

The way to an advertiser's heart apparently is through the stomach. At least that is a reasonable conclusion that could be drawn from the latest findings of a periodic study of more than 2,000 ad executives on their perceptions of the major media properties they use to advertise on. Asked which media brands they felt most satisfied advertising on, the greatest number of executives cited Food Network as their top TV choice and Bon Appetit as their top magazine choice. While their most satisfying Web site choice isn't anything explicitly gastronomic, it does provide some food for thought: Forbes.com.

The findings come from a recently completed wave of Advertiser Perceptions' Advertiser Intelligence Report, a twice-yearly survey of 2,000 advertisers and agency executives involved directly in making advertising decisions for TV, online and print media outlets. The study, which is in its third year, is used by media outlets to understand how they are perceived by Madison Avenue.

Satisfaction With Media Brand As An Advertising Vehicle (*Ranked By Top 3)
TV Network	Web Site	Publication
Food Network	Forbes.com	Bon Appetit
ABC	Weather.com	Better Homes and Gardens
ESPN	WSJ.com, Yahoo (tie)	Martha Stewart Living
Source: Advertiser Perceptions' Advertiser Intelligence Reports. *Percentage rating the media-brand 7, 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale with 10 being most satisfied. Base = Completed interviews with more than 2,000 television, online and print ad planners, media buyers and client-side (marketer) advertising decision makers.

Among the 300 media brands evaluated in the study, Food ranked as their most satisfying TV choice, followed by ABC and ESPN. Among Web sites, Weather.com placed second behind Forbes.com, while WSJ.com and Yahoo were tied for third. Among print media outlets, Better Homes and Gardens ranked second behind Bon Appetit, and ahead of third-place Martha Stewart Living.

The study asked the ad community to rank media brands based on a wide variety of other criteria, including their perceptions of how well they generated actual advertising results. Based on that criterion, Discovery Channel ranks as the top TV network, followed by TBS and ESPN, while Forbes.com dominated the list of Web sites, followed by Cnet and Google. Among print media, Conde Nast Traveler was perceived as generating the best results, followed by The Wall Street Journal and GQ.

Perceived Results From Advertising (*Ranked By Top 3)
TV Network	Web	Publication
Discovery Channel	Forbes.com	Conde Nast Traveler
TBS	Cnet	Wall Street Journal
ESPN	Google	GQ
Source: Advertiser Perceptions' Advertiser Intelligence Reports. *Percentage rating the media-brand 7, 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale with 10 being perceived greatest results. Base = Completed interviews with more than 2,000 television, online and print ad planners, media buyers and client-side (marketer) advertising decision makers.

Some of the factors influencing ad executive perceptions of media brands are objective, while some no doubt are subjective. For example, CNN tops the list of TV networks in terms of perceptions of its sales staff, followed by MTV and ABC. Forbes.com's sales staff also dominated this category among Web sites, followed by Cnet and Yahoo. Among print media outlets, Gourmet's sales people had the greatest perceptions, followed by Maxim and Entertainment Weekly.

Perceptions Of Sales People (*Ranked By Top 3)
TV Network	Web Site	Publication
CNN	Forbes.com	Gourmet
MTV	Cnet	Maxim
ABC	Yahoo	Entertainment Weekly
Source: Advertiser Perceptions' Advertiser Intelligence Reports. *Percentage rating the media-brand 7, 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale with 10 being greatest perception of salespeople. Base = Completed interviews with more than 2,000 television, online and print ad planners, media buyers and client-side (marketer) advertising decision makers.