Rebecca McPheters, CEO, McPheters & Company
Dr. Scott McDonald, SVP/Research, Conde Nast
Dave Poltrack, Chief Research Officer, CBS

This study provides comparable measures of ad effectiveness across multiple media, using 30-second TV ads, full-age 4-color magazine ads, and Internet banner ads in standard sizes.  Additionally, eye-tracking software was used to determine whether—and under what circumstances—Internet ads were actually seen by respondents.  Findings show that for each half-hour spent with the medium:

• Magazine readers are exposed to twice as many ads as Internet users and four times as many as primetime TV viewers
• As a result, magazines effectively deliver more than twice the number of advertising impressions as TV and six times the number of ad impressions as the Internet

According to Scott McDonald, “Because different media deliver ad impressions at vastly different rates, this study provides clear evidence that time spent with a medium does not translate into value for advertisers.  It also indicates that magazine advertising is undervalued relative to its effectiveness.”