Quantitative media research is regularly undertaken in the Netherlands, such as the TON and NOP surveys, to mention but two. Qualitative media research is regularly discussed in the Netherlands, as for instance, at Media Work Group meetings and seminars. In practice, however, and more is the pity, little is done about it. Favourable exceptions are the NINA research of the VNU (United Nether lands Publisher) and Young Love of Muziek Expres. Aside from the possible objections that could be made against the methods used in these surveys, one important disadvantage is that only a few titles were investigated and that no single source results were obtained with the quantitative medium research data. Thanks to the fact that the NOP management, by means of a so called Omnibus, opened up NOP' 75 to third parties, qualitative medium questions could be included in a big random test (N=10,000) and for a large number of titles. This also enabled the linking of quantitative and qualitative medium data. HET BESTE uit Reader's Digest made use of this opportunity to elucidate two qualitative aspects for all periodicals listed in NOP. At the same time the connection was examined between these aspects.
We are facing a dilemma: more information is wanted about as many target groups as possible and the quality of media contacts. We know from a number of field experiments that exact figures regarding media coverage largely depend on the design of the questionnaire. In tracing the influence of the questionnaire on the results the debate concerning the two widely used German intermedia analyses: "Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Media-Analyse" and "Allensbacher Werbetrager-Analyse", proved particularly productive. The general design of the questionnaire and particularly the wording of questions and response alternatives has a greater influence on the coverage results than the type and quality of the sample. In the following we analyse the influence of different reading behaviour, using the figures of a representative survey conducted by the Allensbach Institut. We will check the correlation between the characteristics of reading behaviour and the reader's contact with editorial text as well as advertisements. In accordance with the findings of other studies the thesis is confirmed: reading frequency can well be considered (and used) as a predictor for advertisement contact, most likely it will even prove more reliable than other characteristics of reading behaviour.
The purpose of this paper is to show how quantitative and qualitative media research data can be used in every step of advertising planning and especially in the practice of the media planning. This practice is the situation in The Netherlands at this moment and based on the information of available media research data.
The paper concerns the question of how to include qualitative criteria into current media-planning procedures, and the appraisal of the improvements which may be expected by the usage of qualitative data. After a description of the media model used for the construction of media schedules, two cases histories are presented in which qualitative factors were taken into account.
This paper describes the depletion that occurs to a television program audience (beyond the program rating itself), specifically as these variations relate to television advertising's communications effectiveness. The variables examined include type of program, the interest in the program as indicated by the program rating, time of day, the position of the commercial within a chain of non-program material, and the commercial itself. The findings show that while each of the variables does have an influence on the "effective reach" of television as an advertising medium, the greatest variation is caused by the commercials themselves.
What it attempts to do is to draw attention, in the light of a summary description of some of the experiments carried out by SOFRES over the past two years in the area of qualitative data retrieval and processing for media studies, to the most pertinent questions concerning qualitative data and the use to which they could be put if they were given wide currency, either as a feature of existing collective surveys (such as those performed in France by the C.E.S.P.) or as the basis of complementary studies specifically designed for the purpose, with a view to going beyond the mere determination of the number of contacts between a vehicle and its readership. The paper deals only with two broad areas of research: Firstly, attempts to achieve a precise determination of the circumstances characterising a reader contact. Secondly, attempts to determine the nature of the relationships that develop between the vehicle and its readers. Less progress has been made in this direction than in that of media time-budgets, but the findings thus far are nevertheless sufficient to form the basis of a consistent methodological approach to such problems.
The paper reviews work connecting aspects of the response to TV advertising to the surrounding programme context. New results from the UK are presented suggesting that there is little variation in absence during breaks among the stable viewing audience, by type of break or programme. Most available studies suggest a link between attitude to programme, behaviour in the break and recall. This may reflect different groups rather than different states of the individual. A within individuals observation study is suggested as necessary to move this finding towards actionability. There seems to be no evidence of a carry- over of mood or authority effects from programmes to advertising and it is suggested that television may differ from print media in this way because of a greater separation of advertising from editorial.
The attitude of a magazines' selection by the reader himself indicates a system of preferences towards specific magazines based on values, which are not to be explained by reading probabilities only and which finally could be explained by "Reader-Magazine-Relationship". Within this paper we therefore would like to demonstrate on base of the results of experimental surveys done by the Reader's Digest in Germany since 1972 how "Reader-Magazine- Relationship" can be measured and which influence on ad effectiveness "RMR" has. This, because the assumption that a reader with "RMR" towards a specific magazine has a higher ad noticing probability in his "favourite magazine" than in any other magazine he reads, since he reads this magazine more leisurely, more thoroughly, picks it up repeatedly etc.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the position of qualitative media data in relation to the interests and orientations of the various parties potentially concerned in its generation and use. It is argued that these orientations have resulted in limited use of the qualitative data that has been available, in generation of data that may in fact diminish the media they are meant to help, or data that is just irrelevant.
Most of the previous studies of media are based on reading habits of the audience. The similarity between two magazines is then defined in terms of the audience duplication. A major limitation of this approach is that it confuses the concepts of competition and of complementarity. Further understanding of the qualitative aspects underlying the perception of magazines by consumers is therefore needed both for advertisers as well as for the magazines themselves. The various methods of multidimensional scaling of similarities and preferences whose applications in marketing until now was mainly in the field of strategy, especially of product policy, supply us with the methodological basis to conduct this research. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a new research approach to this problem, based on a pilot study on a limited sample, which could be extended to a larger one.
There is a gap between the stimulus which an advertisement offers to the consumer and the response which it evokes; there is a gap between the medium as it is designed by its editorial staff and the medium as it is used by its audience; there is a gap between the evidence at our disposal when we make an advertising decision and the action which we decide to take. Nowhere does one find a sequential linear process with each stage linking really with the last. This presentation will concentrate on illustrating, with reference to data from our research programme, how decisions about the role of media in communication can become more informed and improved.