Let’s Not Sell Print Short…

by Rebecca McPheters
October 2006

Publishers missed the boat in the 20s when they failed to migrate their brands to radio, and in the 50s, when they made the same mistake with TV.  Clearly they are not making this mistake with the internet, as virtually every major publisher has made the implementation of an appropriate internet strategy a high – and in some cases their highest – priority.  Of the 200 magazines tracked by readership.com, all but 4 now have analogous websites.  The future of traditional print brands will lie in publishers’ ability to transcend platform and remain relevant to their readers regardless of how those readers choose to access information.  But there is a problem:  as important as the internet has become, many publishers – and advertisers – are now at risk of giving it even greater importance than it deserves.  The future of print may be online, but the relationships today are still largely those of the printed product with the reader.

While the internet reaches large numbers of people with a staggering number of page views each month, it remains relatively difficult for individual advertisers to effectively reach large audiences through the internet.  Traditional magazines, on the other hand, make it easy for them to reach audiences that are both large and engaged.  For many publishers who have established a successful web presence, web delivery – and the opportunities for advertisers to connect with viewers in a meaningful way - is still dwarfed by the delivery of their traditional print vehicles. 

Earlier this year, we conducted a full-scale Beta test of readership.com – our new print measurement service which will provide continuous measurement of issue-specific print audiences along with information on engagement and audience accumulation.  Our test found that the average issue of People generates 40.6MM adult readers and about 5 billion “page views”.  In contrast, comScore Media Metrix reports that the People website received 4.5MM unique visitors and 347 million page views in August among adults 18+.  In other words, a single issue of People generates about 9 times the audience and 14 times the page views that its website generates in a single month. 

For publishers, the strategic importance of a strong web presence cannot be argued. Magazine websites have become increasingly sophisticated, as more and more publishers have moved beyond simply shifting print content online to effectively utilizing the unique qualities of this new medium.  A strong web presence not only attracts new audiences to a traditional print brand, but substantially augments the content available to committed readers thus strengthening brand relationships.  We have found that typically the most committed audiences – and those with the highest levels of satisfaction – are those who both read the publication and regularly visit the website. 

Because of the importance of the internet as a way to extend the reach of print brands and to expand and solidify relationships with readers, we have reached an agreement with comScore Media Metrix to integrate their data on visits to publishers’ websites with readership.com’s information on magazine audiences.  Our relationship with comScore will allow us to report on the relationships and interactions between print audiences and their online counterparts. 

The “purchase funnel” long favored by automotive manufacturers has its analogue in the consumption of information.  Magazines and newspapers, like television news, are near the top of the information consumption funnel.  They provide information on a broad range of topics – often those that would not otherwise have been identified as being of particular interest – and reach large numbers of people, helping them to identify the topics about which they want to learn more.  Browsing through a magazine or watching television news, we are exposed to information and ideas that we would not consciously seek out.  This can occur even with a narrowly targeted publication.  A reader of a golfing publication may find out about a new club that is perfectly suited to his needs.  Without knowing that such a club exists, he would be unlikely to seek out its particulars online.  In contrast, the internet tends to be used more heavily at the lower end of the funnel, since one of its major strengths is its ability to provide detailed information on narrowly defined subjects for equally narrowly defined audiences.  It is after a topic attracts our attention and our interest becomes more focused that the internet plays an increasing important role. 

Certainly it is critical that publishers redefine themselves primarily as content providers and seek to connect with their audiences across multiple platforms. This effort should appropriately encompass both traditional and new media.  As publishers seek to expand into other platforms, they must not loose sight of the size of the opportunity in relationship to what is – and is likely to remain – their core business.  Only those who are reached by advertising can possibly respond to it. In the final analysis, it is the number of connections with individuals – and the quality of those connections – that will determine the results that an advertiser can expect. Print provides the broad reach and engagement that advertisers continue to need – and which remain difficult to achieve online. Let’s not sell print short.

Rebecca McPheters is president of McPheters & Company a consultancy specializing in issues related to media measurement.  You can contact her at rmcpheters@mcpheters.com.