Is the Loyal Reader a More Valuable Reader? - A Study on Loyalty as a Modifier of Ad Performance in Print Media

Abstract: Print media today is struggling to compete for advertising expenditures, while concurrently media planners and others concerned with marketing efficiency are facing cluttered mediums and channels. Since the 1950s, the study of how an advertisement's medium, channel or context can influence its reception has led to various discoveries that are relevant both to media and marketing actors, yet under-researched areas remain. A review of the research into qualitative effects of mediums and media channels shows that publication loyalty, conceptually distinct from publication valuation and enjoyment, has not been examined as a factor in print ad performance. This master's thesis continues to examine whether individuals' attitudinal or behavioral loyalty to a publication can have measurable effects on their reaction to its advertising, accounting for their attitude to the advertised brand, to print advertising in general and to the publication. An internet-based survey, featuring a publication sample with interspersed ads followed by a questionnaire, was distributed with 149 responses collected. The hypotheses were tested with two linear regressions, one on ad recall and one on ad attitude, with attitudinal and behavioral loyalty as the independent factors. The results suggest that attitudinal loyalty to a publication has a positive effect on recall of and attitude towards a publication's advertisements, while behavioral loyalty has a weaker effect on recall only. In addition, attitudinal loyalty has a stronger positive relationship on ad attitude than on ad recall. A publication with readers exhibiting attitudinal loyalty may thus be more desirable as a channel for advertising.