Consumer Perceptions Of The Media
The growth in consumer choice and control of media has led to a new generation of viewers, listeners and readers, able to pick and choose their content, and avoid the included advertising. Phil Cutts, director of marketing at the Periodical Publishers Association, explains how cross-media marketing and inventive campaign planning can help address this increasingly prevalent problem…
Advertising avoidance has become a critical issue for the modern media owner, planner and buyer. Today’s consumer has unprecedented control over how much advertising they experience and consequently it is crucial that advertisers take into account the public’s attitude to advertising across the major media and weigh up their specific strengths and weaknesses.
IPC addressed this subject in their “Media Values” survey, in which interviewees rated separate media channels in response to a variety of questions. For example, when asked which medium they “had learnt a lot from”, consumers cited magazines and TV as the most informative channels, scoring 73 and 70 percent respectively followed by newspapers and radio with at 45 and 32 percent. When asked to identify which medium “gives ideas of what to buy”, magazines again came out top with 66 percent. They also scored well with “you can believe what you see/read on/in this medium” with 62 percent, again followed by TV and then radio with 43 percent.
From this study it becomes clear that the consumer relationship with magazines is one of trust. Magazines are perceived to be a useful and honest information source – an invaluable asset in terms of readers being receptive to advertising messages. Both television and radio are obviously also regarded as valuable information sources, but it would be an error to underestimate the advantage magazines have in terms of engaging their audience. Magazines remain the medium least likely to be multitasked with other media – which is good news for advertisers. As an actively consumed medium, readers are in control of the rate of commercial exposure and are therefore more likely to absorb the messages.
PPA’s own study “Absorbing Media” deepens the insight into the consumer relationship with magazines. When asked to identify which medium is usually tailored to their needs, over a third of respondents chose magazines over websites, newspapers and TV. This is explained by the active nature of the magazine purchase and the wide range of titles on offer which enables readers to select a magazine which very closely mirrors their own views and attitudes. This enables advertisers to place advertising that is more likely to contain relevant messages for that particular reader.
Research has also been undertaken into consumers’ preferred media routes for certain topics. “Absorbing Media” revealed that many use television as a first port of call for gardening, food & drink, DIY and Travel, yet magazines are the preferred channel for beauty, celebrities, fashion, cars & motorbikes, parenting, health & fitness and photography. Newspapers however were most commonly used for local or time-specific information such as jobs, items for sale, business news, entertainment and TV listings. It becomes clear that consumers approach each medium differently – and this can be used by savvy, forward-thinking advertisers to create successful campaigns and heighten the effectiveness of marketing spend.
From this research, it becomes apparent that magazines and television fulfil very similar roles – both in how they are approached and what consumers expect to get from them. Keeping this in mind, an advertising strategy combining both media is likely to be highly successful – and mutually beneficial.
Television has movement, sound and elicits an emotional response, while magazine ads are permanent and portable and readers are able to look at advertising for as long as they want. Deeper analysis of the typical magazine reader and TV viewer further supports this symbiotic relationship. For example, heavy viewers are often overexposed to TV-only advertising campaigns, with little or no gain to the advertiser from placing additional spots. In the same way, light viewers of TV – typically young, affluent adults and a core advertising audience – can be underexposed to a campaign. However, light viewers of TV tend to be heavy magazine readers, so by running advertisements in both magazines and on television, the campaign has improved coverage.
Reaching the consumer is becoming increasingly difficult as media fragmentation continues. Consequently it is essential for brands to get under the skin of each medium and really understand the strengths and weaknesses of each, in order to create marketing campaigns which are effective, creative and generate strong returns for the client’s core business.