MRG – Media Values Diary Research
At last night’s MRG meeting IPC’s Liz Watkinson released the results of the second stage of the Media Values research, which was conducted earlier in the year by RSL.
Following the initial research, which examined consumers’ relationships with different media and different types of magazines, a diary was filled in by 250 readers recruited randomly from the main Media Values sample. The aim of the diary was to establish the place of magazines within the context of readers leisure time.
Originally 480 respondents were recruited after being interviewed for the main research. Of these 250 returned usable diaries for the first week of research and 230 returned them for the second week.
The diaries contained 2 main sections, the first asked respondents to record 1 of 13 activities for each hour of the day. The second section asked respondents, for each magazine reading occasion, how long they spent reading, their mode and thoroughness of reading, source of copy, place of reading and whether they engaged in other activities at the same time.
The diaries generated 3,019 separate reading occasions, this gives an average of 6.3 per respondent per week.
The daily activities of the respondents followed the expected pattern, for example housework was predominantly a morning activity as was reading a newspaper. Magazine reading occurred throughout the day with a slight leaning towards the evening.
A selection of the results of the diary research can be found on the following pages.
% OF DAYS WHEN ACTIVITY OCCURS
| 6-12am | 12-5pm | 5-12pm | 12-6am | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watching TV/Video | ||||
| Male | 20 | 42 | 80 | 4 |
| Female | 18 | 40 | 77 | 5 |
| Listening Radio/Music | ||||
| Male | 27 | 19 | 25 | 2 |
| Female | 27 | 20 | 19 | 1 |
| Reading Newspaper | ||||
| Male | 35 | 18 | 20 | 1 |
| Female | 25 | 17 | 17 | 0 |
| Reading Magazine | ||||
| Male | 21 | 22 | 27 | 1 |
| Female | 23 | 28 | 35 | 2 |
OTHER ACTIVITIES WHILE READING MAGS
| % Of All Magazine | |
|---|---|
| Reading Occasions | |
| None | 55 |
| Housework/Odd Jobs | 1 |
| Travelling | 0 |
| Working/Studying | 2 |
| Eating/Drinking Out | 2 |
| Eating/Drinking In | 9 |
| Watching TV/Video | 18 |
| Listening To Radio | 6 |
| Other | 7 |
TIME SPENT READING
| % Of All Magazine | |
|---|---|
| Reading Occasions | |
| 1 Min | 0 |
| 2-5 Mins | 15 |
| 6-9 Mins | 0 |
| 10-14 Minutes | 16 |
| 15-20 Minutes | 14 |
| 21-29 Minutes | 16 |
| 30-39 Minutes | 19 |
| 40-49 Minutes | 7 |
| 50-59 Minutes | 2 |
| 60 Minutes | 12 |
| MEAN MINUTES | 25.6 |
% MAGAZINE READING BY DAY OF WEEK
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Mags | 15 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 13 | 9 |
| Listings Mags | 14 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 10 |
| Women’s Weeklies | 17 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 11 | 7 |
| Youth/Music | 14 | 16 | 19 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 10 |
| Young Womens | 15 | 15 | 21 | 16 | 17 | 9 | 8 |
| Home/Family | 13 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 14 | 11 |
| Women’s Monthlies | 14 | 16 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 17 | 16 |
| Specialist | 14 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 10 |
THOROUGHNESS OF READING % Of All Reading Occasions
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Mags | 21 | 55 | 23 |
| Listings Mags | 8 | 64 | 27 |
| Women’s Weeklies | 25 | 53 | 22 |
| Youth/Music | 30 | 44 | 26 |
| Young Womens | 45 | 34 | 21 |
| Home/Family | 13 | 59 | 28 |
| Women’s Monthlies | 17 | 60 | 24 |
| Specialist | 23 | 56 | 20 |
A = Read From Cover To Cover B = Read Selected Items C = Just Flicked Through
SOURCE OF COPY
| A | B | C | D | E | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Mags | 11 | 48 | 18 | 4 | 14 | 5 |
| Listings Mags | 16 | 49 | 29 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Women’s Weeklies | 4 | 52 | 15 | 5 | 19 | 5 |
| Youth/Music | 12 | 46 | 19 | 0 | 15 | 12 |
| Young Womens | 3 | 49 | 24 | 4 | 14 | 6 |
| Home/Family | 5 | 50 | 16 | 4 | 20 | 5 |
| Women’s Monthlies | 4 | 50 | 18 | 4 | 19 | 5 |
| Specialist | 19 | 40 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 11 |
A = Delivered, B = Bought By Informant, C = Bought By Other Household Member, D = Office/Work Copy, E = Obtained From Friend, F = Other A number of example days of magazine reading have been selected from the completed diaries;
Male, Aged 32, Sunday
10am – Arena, 15 mins in lounge 12am – Arena, 15 mins in lounge, while listening to radio 1pm – Wisden Cricket Monthly, 5 mins in bed, while listening to radio 9pm – Radio Times, 20 mins in lounge, while watching TV
Female, Aged 48, Wednesday
7am – Just Seventeen, 10 mins in Kitchen 11am – New Scientist, 50 mins in office
Male, Aged 59, Thursday
11am – Cambridge Plant Science, 10 mins in living room. 3pm – Woman and Home, 35 mins in living room, while drinking tea 4pm – Antiques Roadshow, 15 mins in living room
Female, Aged 15, Wednesday
9am – Smash Hits, 10 mins in lounge, while watching TV 2pm – TV Times, 5 mins in lounge, while watching TV 4pm – Fast Forward, 5 mins in bedroom 8pm – Hair, 45 mins, while babysitting
Concluding her presentation of the diary research Watkinson said that on the whole the results confirmed many of the hypotheses that already exist about magazine reading. She said she hoped it would be used by agencies to persuade clients that “magazines should be an integral part of each schedule.”
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