Magazines for courtship

The broad findings from “Absorbing Media” are not just a UK phenomenon but are universal, arising from the nature of the media. Similar results have been reported in other countries. One example is “Media Choices”, conducted in 2000 by Erdos & Morgan for Magazine Publishers of America [91]. Another example is an Australian study called “Courting the Consumer” [92], published by Magazine Publishers of Australia. It was based on a combination of qualitative research (focus groups) and a quantitative survey using a sample of 1617 adults.

The Australian survey concluded that magazines are the medium of courtship, bringing people closer to things of interest. Magazines come alongside and build familiarity for the products advertised in them. Television is the medium of introduction, with its intrusiveness making it good for attracting attention and maintaining visibility. Radio plays the role of invisible companion, and newspapers are the medium of ‘plugging in’, taking readers behind the summary details that appear on TV.

The survey described how magazines, television, radio and newspapers perform different roles, and the mind-set a consumer brings to each medium acts as a filter, affecting how advertising works. The MPA report states that while “TV is the passive entertainment medium for introduction and visibility boosting, magazines are the active involvement medium for the courtship stages of building familiarity and preference. Together they perform complementary roles in the consumer’s decision-making process - one adds power to the other.”

The research showed that magazine advertising is part of the environment a consumer consciously explores in search of things of interest. The advertising is not just about getting ‘hard’ information, but is also about getting to know brands and products, by seeing them in an environment where they can be looked at, revisited and compared. 

The statements concerning advertising in magazines which attracted the highest levels of agreement from the sample were ‘The ads help me compare the choices available’ and ‘The ads contain useful product information’.  The advertising plays an intimate role, coming alongside consumers when they are deciding which products and brands best fit their individual needs. This is why the MPA called magazines the medium of courtship.

Respondents were asked in which of the four media they first find out about new products, for each of ten product fields. In half the product fields TV was the leading medium, and magazines were the leading medium in all but one of the remaining product fields. When they were not top-scoring, TV and magazines were usually in second place.

Respondents were next asked which medium was best at providing information needed to decide what to buy. Magazines were the dominant medium, leading in six of the ten product fields and coming second in all but one of the remainder. Magazines were also the dominant medium in terms of the best source of information and ideas. Moreover this dominance was accentuated among consumers who were ‘very interested’ in the product field. Thus magazines allow an advertiser to focus a message on the very people who are most interested in what the advertiser has to say.