Print media disputes letterbox ad survey

By DITA DE BONI

A war of words has broken out in the advertising industry over ACNielsen research showing high levels of letterbox advertising readership.

Print media leaders are outraged that the figures - distributed to media outlets several weeks ago by the Letterbox Media Association (LMA) - do not provide conventional benchmarks to measure the effectiveness of brochures, circulars and mail drops against other forms of media advertising.

ACNielsen has also stepped into the fray, defending the veracity of the research and claiming the media wrongfully interpreted the information presented by trying to compare "apples with oranges".

"ACNielsen confirms that some figures highlighted by media coverage of the [LMA] research have no direct relevance to the media buying and selling process ... such media commentary is less than helpful in illustrating the performance of one medium against another," the company said.

The survey - with a two per cent margin of error - was taken over four months earlier this year and involved 1885 people over the age of 15.

LMA summaries say the study found 94 per cent of New Zealanders over 15 years reported they read circulars and brochures; 74 per cent were medium to heavy users of the material and 33 per cent looked forward to and actively used unaddressed mail in letterboxes.

But Maurice Mehlhopt, Newspaper Bureau executive director, said the figure showing a 94 per cent readership of circulars and brochures did not provide either a definition of reading or a stated timeframe, as would be applied to a print media advertising survey.

In New Zealand, the definition of a newspaper reader is one who has "personally looked into or read a publication for a period of two minutes or more," and a daily newspaper reader would have to have read a publication within the last four weeks.

The LMA survey is the aggregated performance of all circulars, brochures and catalogues and covers an unspecified timeframe.

"If other media were to ask the public whether or not they had ever, in their lifetime ... glanced at a daily newspaper ... no doubt newspaper "readership" would easily match and probably exceed the 94 per cent "readership" generated by circulars," Mr Mehlhopt said.

ACNielsen's Brian Millens said while the research company may have been remiss about making the 94 per cent figure properly understood, the company had been professional and competent in its research methods.

Phil Clemas, general manager of Deltarg Distribution Systems and founding member of LMA, said while the 94 per cent figure should have been further qualified, he believed the study was representative. "The survey tells a good story, and has made the print media fearful about lost revenues."