Advertisers Growing Weary of Magazine Stats

An Advertising Age article this week reported that many major advertisers are asking magazines for better, more accountable circulation figures or they are threatening to bypass the medium altogether (link here, but it is usually locked behind a paywall). The article states:

“The new power play reflects the growing demand for precision metrics in the media business, a drive fueled by an internet model that seems to promise instant accountability. It is also, though, part of a broader regime change in the industry, one that has delivered dominance to advertisers from media owners. Marketers now have too many options and have found too many ways to sell themselves, beyond traditional advertising, for publishers or broadcasters to keep setting the agenda.”

Marketers are demanding a much higher degree of delivery and performance metrics than they were in years past. The Advertising article quotes Donna Campanella, director of global media at Avon: “As somebody who’s ultimately paying the bills, what I’m looking for is accountability and transparency....In this age when there are so many choices out there, particularly in the digital arena, traditional media needs to step up and really prove their value, good or bad.

Unfortunately, all this is happening at a time when the Magazine Publishers of America have decided to provide marketers with less timely information.