New study uncovers the science behind magazine influence
A new study has revealed that magazine advertising investment could more than double before return on investment (ROI) drops to that of TV.
Entitled ‘Magonomics’, the work was conducted by Mindshare UK’s Business Planning Unit on behalf of the PPA, and examines the role of print magazine brands in both driving the bonds between advertisers and consumers and influencing their purchase behaviour.
Mindshare analysed econometric data from 77 campaigns with an advertising spend of up to £6 million to reveal ROI figures that expose magazine advertising’s often-underestimated contribution to driving sales.
The findings show a correlation between printed magazine investment and high bonding scores – the most critical influencer of purchase behaviour.
In the campaigns analysed, magazines also showed a higher than average ROI than any other media channel involved, including television, online and newspapers. And for the brands included, magazine budgets had to be at least doubled before magazine ROI dropped to the same level as television
Jim Jarrett, Business Director, Mindshare UK, said: “We’ve deliberately examined two key areas to really understand the power and impact of magazines.
“Firstly, our Magonomics research has viewed magazines separately to newspapers to highlight the different function they play to traditional print within a media campaign.
“Secondly, we examined magazines’ measurement in econometrics to assess performance over time, taking into consideration that magazines do not deliver their entire audience in one ‘easy to pinpoint’ moment. In exploring how magazines are treated in econometrics, we are able to demonstrate that correctly distributing magazine audiences over time leads to an uplift of 19% in magazine ROI.”
Mindshare also discovered that the gains made by reallocating budget to magazines were far greater than the losses from the host medium. Although the results varied for each campaign, it was revealed that magazine spend for the brands reviewed can be doubled before the ROI drops to the same level of TV, providing an indication that there is room in spend allocations for magazines to continue delivering high ROI.