A new analysis of a UK household purchasing panel data has concluded that:

• Magazine advertising was associated with an additional sales uplift of 11.6% in terms of sales value.
• There were also significant uplifts in terms of sales volume, market share and market penetration.
• The medium-term return on investment for magazine advertising was £2.77 per £1 invested – at least comparable with that of television advertising.

The project was commissioned by UK magazines’ professional body, the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA). The data were collected by the TNS Superpanel. The project is titled ‘Magazines Uncovered’. The first report, called ‘Sales Uncovered’, has been published and in the next few months two further reports called ‘Planning Uncovered’ and ‘Communications Uncovered’ will provide additional insights into the results of the analysis.

Method

The study was an analysis of TNS Superpanel sales records and media exposure data. Superpanel’s 15,000 homes record their take-home purchases via bar-code readers and keypads, on a daily basis. The analysis examined purchasing records during the period August 2002 to February 2004. Panellists’ media exposure was measured through a self-completion questionnaire called mediaSPAN.

20 mass-market brands were selected for analysis according to detailed criteria, including the requirement that magazines accounted for at least 10% of the brand’s total advertising expenditure. The 20 brands were those which met the criteria and which spent the largest amounts on magazines.

Comparisons of increases in sales were made between those ‘main shoppers’ who had been exposed to the magazine advertising, and those who had not seen it.

Results

Several measures of performance were studied, and all of them showed a clear positive effect of magazine advertising:

• Sales value was 11.6% higher among those exposed to the magazine campaign
• Sales volume was 18.1% higher
• Market share (sales value) was 6.7% higher
• Market share (sales volume) was 8.6% higher
• Brand penetration was 8.5% higher

By comparing the value of the additional sales generated by magazine advertising, with the cost of that advertising, it was possible to estimate the return on investment. Across the medium term (defined as 12 months since the beginning of the magazine advertising), TNS calculated that the return on investment was £2.77. That is, every £1 spent on magazine advertising produced additional sales of £2.77. This figure compares well with TNS’s calculation of the return on investment for television advertising.

PPA has published a brochure called ‘Sales Uncovered’ which presents the main results of the project. To download the brochure for free click here.