Will Qiosk.Com Revolutionize Reader Research?

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 1, 2001

If you haven't heard of them, you will. Qiosk.com expects to be online sometime this year, and it hopes to revolutionize the way people buy and consume magazines--as well as the way reader research is conducted. The Web site will offer exact cover-to-cover replicas of magazines online, including all ads, editorial and graphics.

It aspires to display every magazine in the world on its site. And the ads will offer enhanced audio and video. Heavy travelers will be able to access their favorite tides without going to the newsstand. Qiosk.com boosters note that there are strong and compelling economic reasons for publishers to join the e-marketplace. It eliminates the cost of the three p's--paper, postage and printing--by an average of over $1 per issue. What's debatable, however, is whether consumers will choose to abandon print in large numbers. After all, there's still the allure of holding a magazine in your hand. But even if online magazine sales aren't brisk, some industry observers feel that media research will inevitably be transferred to the Web site. It's potentially easier to have consumers download magazines online and have them offer their thoughts than to visit them at home and show logo cards, as media research is typically conducted today. "The cost of doing more than 26,000 personal interviews a year in homes is staggering," says Paul Gold, director of interactive research for MRI, the leading audience testing group. MRI has already formed an alliance with Qiosk.com and hopes eventually to conduct research online. Publishers who have committed to Beta Research Corporation testing include Hearst, Primedia, Newsweek, Rodale and Ziff Davis. Will Qiosk.com revolutionize reader research? Says Gold, "It's possible, but there are a lot of 'ifs' and years of work to be done." Still, the possibilities are intriguing.