Why should print media be part of your media strategy?
There’s no doubt that the world in 2011 is defined by information. Whether it’s news, opinions, interviews or advertising, it’s information that provides the direction and structure to our lives. Print media, television, online, mobile and social media are all now vital components of any campaign. Read more
Some major magazine companies are expanding efforts to guarantee that advertising with their brands directly increases sales.
Meredith Corp., the publisher of magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal and Better Homes and Gardens, is expanding its program for large advertisers to encompass more product categories, such as pharmaceuticals, and the number of clients it will work with. "We're a multimedia company," said Tom Harty, president of Meredith's National Media Group, which sells digital media as well as magazine ad pages. "We just feel like print gets bashed a little too much."
In the first year of Meredith's program, participating marketers earned an average return of $7.81 for every $1 they spent on ads in company magazines, Meredith said. The program uses consumer purchase data from sources such as Nielsen's Homescan panel to compare sales to households that receive Meredith magazines and a comparable group that does not. So far it has covered categories such as food, beauty and over-the-counter drugs.
Time Inc., meanwhile, plans to add evaluation of tablet and mobile ads to its program this year, a company spokeswoman said. Participating clients have seen returns ranging from $4 to $33, she added.
This kind of research seems likely to become more common. "There are more opportunities to merge media exposure with purchasing behavior," said Jeff Bickel, VP-delivery and analytics at Nielsen Catalina Solutions, which integrates Nielsen's media and household purchase information with Catalina's frequent shopper data. "That's really the heart of this type of analysis: to understand directly that here's a group of consumers, of households, that are exposed to this marketing and are compared to a like group of consumers who did not have that exposure."
Marketers increasingly demand some sort of evidence that their ad spending is paying off, and the media sellers that can provide it may get a leg up. "We encourage all of our media partners to bring us more evidence in the form of custom research in order to better understand what is working and what is not, or at least not as well," said Mark Kaline, global director-media, licensing and consumer services at Kimberly-Clark, which participated in the program. "The Meredith sales guarantee was a unique approach to that end and we will be holding that up and encouraging our other partners to have the courage to do the same."
That said, Mr. Kaline added, the overall methods that marketers use to determine return on investment need to be revisited, making a reevaluation of traditional marketing mix modeling now underway at the Advertising Research Foundation "one of the most important efforts in the industry today."
This article originally appeared on the AdAge Media News website.
http://adage.com/article/media/meredith-expands-program-guaranteeing-sales-lift/241173/?utm_source=mediaworks&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1367866253
Consumer magazine publishers still generate a massive 78% of their total revenues from their print products, according the fourth annual Publishing Futures report.
The survey of senior magazine executives predicts the figure will fall to 71% over the next two years, while income from the publishers’ digital brands will rise from 8% to represent 15% of total revenue during the same period.
By comparison, the survey found B2B publishers make only 40% of their revenue from print products, partly due to their increased focus on brand extensions through events.
The Publishing Futures report launched at today’s Professional Publishers Association’s Publishing+ conference at the Hilton London Metropole. It predicts that advertising and sponsorship will retain a stable share of publisher’s total revenues over the next two years, declining slightly from the current 36% of total revenues to 35% by 2014.
Digital will play a greater role in magazine ad revenues, growing its share from 17% to 27% in the next two years. The report also found that multi-channel advertising packages were increasingly leading to sponsorship deals rather than traditional advertising positioning.
The economic climate is causing continued challenges to publishers, the survey found, hitting advertising budgets and circulation and putting pressure on rates. Publishers also felt threatened by advertisers speaking more directly with their customers using information from their own databases.
The report added that B2B publishers were ahead of their consumer colleagues in terms of re-engineering their businesses to adapt to digital opportunities. It stated: "The change and volatility in consumer consumption patterns is still causing massive turbulence.
"There is a clear concern among a number of smaller publishers, especially in B2B, that they do not have the scale and resource to prosper in the austere and challenging environment."
But the study also found that the economic hardship has become "an accepted fact" for many publishers who are now "getting on with managing the challenges", looking for opportunities in overseas markets and emphasising revenue growth.
The PPA carried out the survey in association with Wessenden Marketing and InPublishing.
This article, written by Louise Ridley, originally appeared on the MediaWeek website. http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/bulletin/mediaam/article/1181453/?DCMP=EMC-CONMediaAMBulletin
The latest figures from the South African Audience Research Foundation (SAARF) show that daily and weekly newspapers account for 49% of local media consumption, making them still the most preferred source of news and information in the country. This is a far-cry from the predictions of doom that newspapers would have been dead a decade ago. In fact, there is evidence globally that newspapers have arrested their decline, which was largely caused by the rapid advancement and wide availability of the internet; which led to the provision of free news online.
Newspapers are enjoying new-found stability. Even more pleasing is evidence that they are growing in popularity in most of the developing world, including populous India. Locally, the acquisition of Independent Newspapers & Media SA (INMSA), by a consortium led by Sekunjalo Holdings for R2 billion, points to the continued attractiveness of newspaper and magazine companies to investors. Also, the continuing growth of isiZulu language newspapers shows that those who wrote the obituary of newspapers and magazines have acted too hastily.
Now that the apocalyptic prophesies appear to have been off the mark, it is about time we changed the narrative about the print media. This is not an industry on death row but a dynamic one that is doing its best, and succeeding by continually innovating and embracing change. Admittedly, these changes, especially the swift emergence of online media, have changed the way newspaper and magazine owners do business.
They have successfully leveraged synergies between the print and online versions of newspapers and magazines. Newspaper companies have invested princely sums in recent times to adapt and ensure they stay relevant. They had no option if they were to continue doing what they have always done well - that is to be the most trusted platforms for news and for delivering desirable audiences to advertisers.
Newspapers have a special significance in South Africa. They enjoy public trust that far exceeds that of other media platforms by far. This, combined with their historical watchdog role, makes them a vital part of society. People trust newspapers because they largely owe their mere existence to the promotion of public good. This notwithstanding, newspapers are indeed going through the most challenging period since they were first published centuries ago. But, they are doing a good job of changing with the times. All mainstream newspapers in South Africa have fully embraced the digital medium and are reaping the rewards in terms of attracting new readers. Far from being the killer of newspapers that it was supposed to be, the digital platform has seen newspapers and magazines gain new audiences.
The challenge local newspapers and magazines face, like their counterparts around the world, is how they can best monetise their journalism online and attract sufficient advertising to make their online offering viable. More and more pay walls are coming up as media houses try to recoup the costs of providing news online and profit from it.
The good news is that people have shown a willingness to pay for quality journalism. As Lizette Rabie, a professor of journalism at Stellenbosch says, people are willing to pay for news that they cannot get for free - just as they are willing to pay for satellite television. She also points out that people do not read news either digitally or in print to the exclusion of the other; but consume both media forms. And, importantly, newspaper readership has remained stable in South Africa, at 49% of all media consumption, representing 17. 1 million people out of a population of just over 50 million. What this tells us at Print and Digital Media South Africa (PDMSA) is that print media, specifically newspapers and magazines, are going to be with us for a very long time, perhaps at least another generation.
As for magazine, it's something of a happy coincidence that the news of a drop in readership during the period under review, from 50, 5% to 46, 9%, comes at the same time as we celebrate the entry of yet another new title, Business Class, from the Times Media stable. Watch this space.
This article, written by Ingrid Louw, originally appeared on the Bizcommunity website. http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/15/92694.html
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