Emmis Publishing Study of Readership of Paid and Unpaid Publications in Affluent Communities

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Emmis Publishing Study of Readership of Paid and
Unpaid Publications in Affluent Communities
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Article in AdAge, Land grab in luxe land as
niche publishers race to stake claims. The
story highlighted the growing number of new,
glossy, free, city specific publications being
created for distribution in the U.S. affluent
communities.
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In that article Christopher OConnor, Senior VP,
Group Account Director, MPG, referring to these
new Publications asked, because they are given
out for free, are these people really interested
in them?
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At the 2005 American Magazine Conference, Jack
Kliger, President and CEO Hachette Fillippachi
Media and incoming President Of MPA asked, why
should an advertiser care whether a magazine copy
is paid or unpaid---or how much, or by
whom---if it delivers readers who are
appropriate targets for their products?
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In an advertising environment where claims of
significant community penetration of non-paid
publications exist, Emmis Publishing wanted to
find the answer to the question of paid vs.
non-paid readership in affluent areas---or, do
these free publications deliver what they promise
to advertisers?
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When Emmis commissioned Monroe Mendelsohn Research
to create a study of the readership to paid and
non-paid publications in affluent communities,
the objective was simple. The intent was to cut
through the claims and try, for the first time,
to begin to get an answer to the question,
if you mail a free magazine, even a very
expensive looking free magazine, to a home that
has neither requested it, nor expressed an
interest in it, would it be read and valued?
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The findings overall demonstrated that the answer
is NO.
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Free, mailed magazines---no matter how expensive
looking---proved to be significantly less likely
to be read and significantly less likely to
be valued than paid magazines.
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Emmis commissioned the study to Monroe Mendelsohn
Research (MMR) with Senior Vice President Robert
Shullman and directed by independent consultant,
Charles A. Rodin.
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Three geographically dispersed affluent communitie
s were studied Buckhead in Atlanta (30327)
Park Cities in Dallas (75202) Pacific Palisades
in Los Angeles (90272)
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Research Procedure

• One week prior to mailing questionnaires an
  advance postcard was sent to alert the
• participants
• MMR mailed a personalized cover letter with a
  4-page booklet questionnaire with a returned
• envelope
• There were 2,250 potential respondents ½
  Emmis title subscribers and ½ Random Sample
• (provided to MMR by Experian)
• Names of publications that were to be measured
  in targeted zip codes were supplied by
• Emmis
• All letters and envelopes were addressed to
  specific individuals
• 2. incentive was used with subscribers
• 5. incentive was used with random sample
• One week after questionnaire mailing, a
  reminder postcard was sent
• Completed questionnaires were received by MMR

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Questionnaire Response Levels
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List of Publications compared by market
Atlanta
Atlanta Magazine Atlanta Style Design Atlanta
Woman Creative Loafing Jezebel Season Points
North Paper City
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Dallas
Brilliant Dallas/Fort Worth House Home Dallas
Observer Modern Luxury Dallas Nu Image Paper
City Park Cities People (paid) Texas Monthly
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Los Angeles
Angeleno Brentwood Magazine Distinction LA
Confidential Los Angeles Magazine Malibu
Magazine Privilege Venice
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Very high readership and awareness levels existed
for the Emmis titles in these affluent
communities, particularly in relation to actual
paid circulation levels in these communities
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13 9.6 6.0
66 48.6 54.5
94.4 95 95.5
21.6 18.3 25.9
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Atlanta In the very affluent Atlanta community
of Buckhead, differences in scores reported for
paid and non-paid publications were dramatic.
Although circulation records indicate that only
13 of homes in Buckhead are subscribers to
Atlanta Magazine, findings demonstrate that
Atlanta Magazine is read by two of every three
residents of Buckhead. With an excellent/good
publication rating of 83.3, Atlanta Magazine
proved also to be the most highly rated
publication in the community. Only one other
publication in Buckhead reported significant
readership. This was by a local tabloid called
Creative Loafing which reported a readership of
55 and an excellent/good rating of 70.1. All
other publications surveyed in Buckhead trailed
badly by all measures. The third best read
publication in the community, Jezebel, reported
significantly lower awareness levels (60.3) and
significantly lower publication quality ratings
(66.7) and was read by just over 22 of
residents on the community. Among other
publications surveyed, including Season, Points
North, Atlanta Style Design, Paper City and
Atlanta Woman, scores for awareness, reading and
qualitative rating trended even lower.
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Dallas In Park Cities, three publications
proved to have significant readership. The
publication with the greatest awareness (95.5),
the highest reported readers per copy relative to
distribution (9.1) and the highest qualitative
rating of excellent/good (89.7) was the paid
publication, Texas Monthly. The publication
with the second highest readers per copy (2.2),
the second highest reported awareness (94.9) and
the second highest qualitative excellent/good
rating (86.5) was also a paid publication, Park
Cities People. The third publication reporting
significant readership in Park Cities was Paper
City. With a reported readership of 59.6, it
was the only non-paid publication in any of the
affluent markets surveyed to report as many as
one reader per copy compared to claimed
circulation. Despite this higher readership
level, however, in common with other free
publications surveyed, Paper City also reported
awareness levels lower than those reported for
paid publications and qualitative ratings even
more significantly lower than those of paid
publications. With an excellent/good rating of
67.6, Paper Citys qualitative score was
approximately 25 less than that of Texas Monthly
in Park Cities. Among other free distribution
publication in Park Cities, readership and
awareness levels proved significantly lower and
qualitative rating proved equally low. For
example, though the highly publicized free
publication, Modern Luxury Dallas, claims a 49.6
circulation penetration in Park Cities, the
findings suggest that only 40 of Park Cities
residents have heard of it and only 19 have ever
read it.
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Los Angeles In Pacific Palisades, the best read
and most highly rated publication proved to be
Los Angeles Magazine. Although circulation
records indicate that paid circulation
penetration for Los Angeles Magazine in Pacific
Palisades is just 9.6, total readership is 48.6
(or just more than 5 readers per copy) and
awareness is 95. In Pacific Palisades, Los
Angeles Magazine is also---by a wide margin---the
most highly rated publication among all
surveyed. By contrast, the second best magazine,
Angeleno, managed a total readership of barely
30 despite a claim of 54.1 circulation
penetration of homes in the areas (approximately
½ reader per copy) and an awareness level just
60, (or barely better than their claimed
distribution). LA Confidential, although among
the most highly publicized publication in the
community, surprisingly proved to be the most
poorly read publication in community (10). It
also recorded scores for awareness (52.9) and
overall publication rating (50) that were among
the lowest in the study. In Pacific Palisades,
as many or more respondents reported they wished
magazines like Angeleno, LA Confidential,
Privilege, Distinction and others would take them
off their mailing lists as reported they read
these magazines regularly.
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Wheres the Buzz Never Heard of
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Atlanta Publication Never Heard of Atlanta
Magazine 5.6 Atlanta Style
Design 50.4 Atlanta Woman 66.7 Creative
Loafing 8.5 Jezebel 39. Paper
City 76.3 Points North 61.2 Season 56.3
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Dallas Publication Never Heard of.. Texas
Monthly 4.5 Brilliant 80.2 Dallas/Ft.
Worth House Home 49.2 Modern Luxury
Dallas 59.8 Nu Image 5.9 Paper
City 14 Park Cities People 5.1
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Los Angeles Publication Never Heard of Los
Angeles Magazine 5 Angeleno 39.6 Brentwood
34 Distinction 48.6 LA Confidential 47.1 Ma
libu 52.5 Privilege 45.1 Venice 67.4
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Among some glossy publications, there is also a
very high wish they would take me off the list
percentage relative to readership and awareness.
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66
55.30
23.20
22
18
7.20
66 of adults in Buckhead read or look through
Atlanta Magazine regularly or sometimes. Of
those, 83 rate the magazine excellent/good.

• Sample base too small to be stable

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66
55.30
23.20
22
18
7.20
66 of adults in Buckhead read or look through
Atlanta Magazine regularly or sometimes. Of
those, 70.1 look forward to reading every issue.
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66
55.30
23.20
22
18
7.20
66 of adults in Buckhead read or look through
Atlanta Magazine regularly or sometimes. Of
those, 60.7 agree it is authoritative.
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66
55.30
23.20
22
18
7.20
66 of adults in Buckhead read or look through
Atlanta Magazine regularly or sometimes. Of
those, 86.7 agree it is informative.
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66
55.30
23.20
22
18
7.20
66 of adults in Buckhead read or look through
Atlanta Magazine regularly or sometimes. Of
those, 91.2 find the magazine useful in
providing information about local restaurants.
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66
55.30
23.20
22
18
7.20
66 of adults in Buckhead read or look through
Atlanta Magazine regularly or sometimes. Of
those, 70.2 find the magazine useful in
providing information about fashion.
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66
55.30
23.20
22
18
7.20
66 of adults in Buckhead read or look through
Atlanta Magazine regularly or sometimes. Of
those, 83 find the magazine useful in providing
information about shopping.
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66
55.30
23.20
22
18
7.20
66 of adults in Buckhead read or look through
Atlanta Magazine regularly or sometimes. Of
those, 83 find the magazine useful in providing
information about travel.
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66
55.30
23.20
22
18
7.20
66 of adults in Buckhead read or look through
Atlanta Magazine regularly or sometimes. Of
those, 94.7 say they receive too
many UNSOLICITED catalogs, brochures, magazines
and newspapers in the mail.
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When this study was conceived, it was believed
that the study findings might provide evidence
that free distribution publications (particularly
such glossy, oversized publications such as LA
Confidential, Angeleno, and Modern Luxury Dallas)
were read or valued as much as paid publications
in the affluent communities they claim to serve.
Based on the findings of this study, there is
strong evidence that this assumption is
INCORRECT!!
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The Emmis research proves that PAID CIRCULATION
MATTERS