In yet another desperate attempt to hype the role of print magazines in our digital age, the Magazines Publishers Association (MPA) recently commissioned a new study on consumer behavior.

The results are clear: TV dominates media usage, whereas magazines dominates engagement. In order words, we watch more hours of TV per day than any other media, far above magazines consumption (see chart).

The funny thing is how the magazine industry spins these results to their advantage, by using the concept of “engagement”:

Using this measure, magazines ranked first, serving as the exclusive or primary medium 85 percent of the time they are used by consumers. TV and radio ranked second and third, dominating 76 percent and 75 percent of the time they are used by consumers, while newspapers ranked nearly as high, dominating 71 percent of the time they are used by consumers. The Internet dominates during only 48 percent of the time it is used.

Indeed magazine reading is an absorbing activity, same as reading a book. What the report fails to emphasize is just how small magazines are in usage compared to other media (see that chart!), and how consumers today like to multitask their media intake. This is a wake up call for magazines, not a trend that can save them!

Maybe, in terms of advertising effectiveness, there is a point the Association could make about how the magazine reading experience can help recall ads more effectively by being more engaging. After all, in print media you cannot switch channels, fast forward or block the pop-ups… all you can do is ignore the ad pages and just flip through them

Via MediaPost
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