Advertisers and media agencies have long been asking for a model that could provide more detail on the reach of newspapers and magazines. And on top provide single source data.  And finally a model that could be part of the planning software used by the agencies.

The model is based upon the ARF media model that list 8 steps: medium circulation, medium reach, advertising reach, advertising attention, communication value, convincing power, advertising response and finally sales response. Obviously publishers only have impact on the first three steps. The other steps have to do with specific qualities of the advertisement.

The survey was conducted with the help of GFK research and ABF Research and measured advertising reach via the proxy Opportunity To See Advertising (OTSA). The research shows a number of important influencers for advertising reach for example:

•  reader intensity
• gender
• age
• education
• receptiveness for advertising
• interest in advertised product category
• in-paper position
• use of colour
• type of print medium (newspaper/magazine)
• bought, free distribution
• reading intensity
• reading time
• reading frequency

All these criteria taken into account will result in an OTSA, a chance that the reader will notice the ad. This figure changes per magazine or newspaper title, but also per product category and per target group. The OTSA can be defined per title/target group and product category. The following graph shows the OTSA for one title for the target group of 13 yrs+ for different product categories.

The model that was commissioned by the Nationaal Onderzoek Multimedia (NOM) will provide crucial facts about the effectiveness of print and answers questions about optimal print investment. At the same time is puts print on-par with Television and Radio that have already conducted similar surveys. Media agencies will also be able to plan print media in a more effective way.