Is The TV Model a Better Way? The magazine industry is under great pressure to be more like TV in its research. What the agencies want is much more timely audience data, with specific results for each issue, plus “meaningful” engagement metrics, not average issue research.

But there are important issues to be addressed. Designers of such studies must bear in mind how their findings will actually be used in space buying and selling. Magazines must evaluate their current audience guarantee system—which is based on circulation, not audience—and how the situation is likely to change if issue-specific readership surveys become their sales “currency.” This topic is also discussed in Magazine Dimensions 2010.

Published June 2008; 22 pages