MediaPost
Papers Claim To Beat Other Media,
Research Designed To Engage Madison Avenue
by Joe Mandese, Monday, Sep 19, 2005 7:45 AM E5T
IN THE FIRST OF A barrage of new research designed to demonstrate the ability of media to attract and hold the attention of consumers for advertisers, the newspaper industry today will unveil findings of a Millward Brown study it claims demonstrates that printed newspapers are still an engaging medium, despite the inroads of electronic media, especially the Internet. The study, which was commissioned by the Newspapers National Network (NNN) and the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), is but one in a series of studies being conducted by the print medium. The NAA separately is underwriting two studies designed to demonstrate the relationship readers have with the papers they read (MediaDaityNews, Aug. 22). All of the research, as well as a litany of similar initiatives being undertaken by other media, are intended to capitalize on Madison Avenue's new focus on engagement as the core metric for valuing media buys. While there currently are no industry standard methods for measuring, or even defining engagement, a committee of advertisers and ad agency executives currently is developing such parameters for the Advertising Research Foundation.
Media are wasting little time seizing on the new impetus. During this year's upfront advertising negotiations, at least two TV networks tied their 2005-06 advertising deals to at least some form of engagement measurement: Court TV and The Weather Channel, though precise details of those deals have not been disclosed.
Convinced that their mediums are equally, if not more engaging than TV, both the magazine and newspaper industries have been investing significant research dollars to demonstrate that. The Magazine Publishers of America was the first to release a major study on the subject, its so-called "reader experience" research, which is believed to have had a significant influence on Madison Avenue. At least one of the newspaper industry's studies is modeled on that approach.
Meanwhile, the NNN is releasing top line findings of the Millward Brown study, which it claims provides new proof of newspaper engagement.
"While Internet usage has grown, this new study shows that newspapers outperform other media on a variety of important engagement measures to advertisers," stated Jason Klein, president-CEO of the NNN.
The Millward Brown study, which ironically used the internet as a research method, interviewing 3,013 adults online in June, found that newspapers rank ahead of other media in the following criteria:
- "Deals with issues I care about."
- Offers "the most comprehensive source of news."
- "Has credible advertising."
- "Advertising helps me choose products to buy."
- Is "an everyday habit."
However, it is unclear how representative the study actually is, as it was specifically conducted among newspaper readers: people who said they read three or more issues of a newspaper in the past seven days.
That said, the study revealed that among these respondents, both newspapers and the Internet have the lowest levels of multitasking--and presumably more engaged involvement with the individual rnedium--than the other major media. According to the findings, both newspapers and the Internet average only 1.3 "conscious concurrent activities" while they were being used. TV had the highest ratio--2.4--followed by radio (2.1) and magazines (1.9).
Joe Mandese is Editor ofMediaPost.