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January 27, 2006
Is print more engaging than other media?
Need to make a case for your print publication? A recent study of consumer behavior demonstrates that people are more engaged by print media like newspapers and magazines than they are by electronic media like TV, radio and the Internet.
By “engagement,” the authors—academic researchers at Ball State University’s Center for Media Design—mean the amount of concentrated time that consumers spend on media. Known as the Middletown Media Studies, the research is based on more than 5,000 hours of direct observation of consumers using media.
The upshot: People are much more likely to devote their full attention to print publications than they are to other media. So although consumers spend far more time on TV, radio and the Internet, they’re also likely to be multi-tasking, having two or more of these channels on at once, or using an electronic medium as “background” while involved in other activities.
(Can a study about external media be applied to internal communication? Absolutely, because employees use media in similar ways, no matter where the information comes from.)
If you manage a print publication, I recommend you learn more about this study, and use the results to demonstrate the power of print to your boss, senior management, or anyone else who asks, “Why, in this day and age, do we still have a print publication?”
The reason is simple: good print still works—and works in ways that electronic media cannot.
To download a report, go to http://www.bsu.edu/cmd/availablereport/ To read an article summarizing the report (free log-in required), visit this site and click on the study link. Or, to learn more about the Middletown Media Studies, visit http://www.bsu.edu/cmd/conmedexp/
Posted by Alison Davis at January 27, 2006 12:47 PM