Don't Equate Paid Circulation With Reader Involvement

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb, 2001

Perhaps as an antidote dealing with the sometimes capricious approach of media buyers, publishers often attempt to woo advertisers with their paid circulation numbers. But according to Douglas, paid circulation isn't always a measuring stick of reader involvement. In a recent MPA presentation titled "The Basics of Media Research for Advertising Sales," Douglas outlined a scenario that illustrates the folly of equating audience involvement with paid circulation.

"Some paid circulation is the worst audience-filled circulation in the world," Douglas said. "What's the value of a copy when a kid trying to raise money for the school band goes to a young man's house and talks his grandmother into buying six magazines? She thinks her grandson needs Men's Health, but he doesn't want it. He wants Maxim. She's going to get him Men's Health anyway. Now he gets 12 issues, and it was paid for at a discounted rate. He never opens it. What value is that to an advertiser? It's a paid copy with zero readers per copy."