The Print Observer – Newspaper & Magazine Advertising Insights
Newspaper and magazine advertising insights, commentary and analysis.
If you’re a publisher or advertising executive new to performance print advertising – or would like a refresh on how MediaBids works – this video provides a short overview of how MediaBids will deliver ads from top brands + additional revenue to your publication.
Creating a MediaBids account for your publication is free and easy. If you have questions or need assistance, please feel free to call us at 1-800-545-1135 or email info@mediabids.com.
MediaBids publications’ results come from several sources of raw data sets. On a monthly basis, we collect the reports from the various places, align the data, reformat it, clean it up, and tally the results before uploading the final monthly results to our site for publishers.
What kinds of results are there?
We have three types of campaigns, but they can be a mixture as well.
Per Call – paid on the phone calls
Per Sale- paid on verified sales
Per Lead- paid on collected customer contact information
Per call campaigns, our most popular type, base the payable result on call criteria. Typical call criteria are: call length, calls during business hours, calls within a region or zip code, and or calls that press a number to reach an operator. Most advertisers want a caller to be on the line for one to two minutes before they consider the caller legitimate. The Invoca platform allows us to disqualify calls which fall outside of the advertiser’s call center hours, but not all require that feature if they are collecting the callers’ numbers and calling them back. Calls can also be qualified by a key pressed zip code or simply by the caller’s the area code, and or their exchange. Phone numbers consist of 4 parts: the 1-digit country code, a 3-digit area code and 3-digit central office or exchange code and a 4-digit subscriber or extension number.
Per Sale campaigns are actual sales. Sales are determined by the advertiser and we receive monthly reports of sales for our publications. Some of these will be set on a percentage of the sale and others are a flat rate.
Per lead campaigns are those where a customer’s details are collected during a call or via a landing page. These are Web Leads and Post Backs. Some advertisers use URLs/QR codes in their ads which send readers to an online lead form which collects their information on behalf of an advertiser, and then that lead information is automatically sent to the advertiser as raw data. Those lead forms are part of the backend of the Mediabids.com system. We built and house many of the lead forms in the ads, while other leads are gathered and stored on the advertiser’s site, which then sends us as a post -back notification of a lead conversion.
Some campaigns use some deeper tech and robots listen to calls for key words that trigger a “sale”. These are called Signals. We use these on Omaha Steaks and on Physicians Mutual Dental. HIPPA laws prevent recording calls for some campaigns, like the dental campaign, which is why robot ears are a fitting option for counting calls where a person took the step to sign up for the insurance.
When are final reports ready/available?
Monthly reports are available on about the 3rd business day of the month. Sometimes we run into obstacles like a big advertiser running late with their reporting to us. Rather than report incomplete results, then report stragglers as they come in, we wait to send one complete report. When they are complete, an automatic email is sent to all publications with active ads.
What’s in the monthly report?
The emailed report will show you top performers and the total due to you, but if you want more information, you can hit the link in the email to the full report or log on to your account to see how much each of your active ads generated. The reports are downloadable to excel as well. Full reports show the monthly total, each active ad, how many qualifying responses it had and the total amount generated for each ad.
Why are my weekly totals not matching this monthly report?
Publications are emailed weekly automated traffic reports for their ads. The automated reports give call counts and result counts for basic pay per call campaigns. The weekly reports do not however take into account the per sale results or web-based results. They also do not take into account the hiccups that come from phone numbers being hit with the latest SPAM. Your monthly reports contain final payable total results.
How do you know what calls are for my publication?
Your ads contain unique identifiers, mostly phone numbers and in some cases URLs and they are procured just for your publication. We rent each phone number for the publications and the URLs are given unique codes from our advertisers. These are both tracked back to your publication. We rent phone numbers in bulk from the Invoca platform, which was somewhat recently bought by Salesforce. The Invoca platform is integrated via API with our own custom platform which is a continually evolving system established more than 20 years ago by our inhouse developers lead by our forever CTO John Carril. Much like Invoca, our technology grows and reacts to the ever-changing requirements of the industry as a whole. .
What is done about junk calls or SPAM, does it affect my results?
The leads are the easiest place to spot spammers. It’s unclear what they get out of it, but you can always count on some bot or person submitting a bunch of leads with details like:rcvbe7632rwihngdvm. Our technology inspects incoming leads requests for a variety of indicators and filters most SPAM/BOT generated leads before they even enter our system. However, the few that manage to slip by our defenses are then hand removed. The calls that are spam are blocked by a few methods. Some have an IVR which requires callers to press a random number to reach an operator, another asks for a zip code, and many spam calls only last 21 seconds so they never reach the qualifying call length. There are from time to time, publications that attempt to rack up results illegitimately too. We don’t want to give anyone ideas, but we’ve seen and delt with some sketchy people. They are quickly delt with and removed from our system. For all the legitimate calls, the tech built into Invoca automatically tags a call as payable if it meets the criteria as a result. Criteria like: call length, did they press1, are they calling within the region, did they call during business hours, have they called in the past 30 days and already qualified as payable. When the automatic spam blockers are breached, we look closer and may listen to the recorded calls.
What details about a call are collected by the call platform?
| Call Start Time | Time stamp for the time of call EST |
| Call Record ID | Unique call id |
| Source | The phone number in the ad |
| Promo Number Description | Your Ad number in our system |
| Original Publisher | Your publication |
| Original Publisher ID (From Network) | Your publication’s ID in our system |
| Call Segment Path | Advertiser |
| Final Campaign | Advertiser’s preferred end point for your call, can be by region or by type of ad (classified vs display |
| Total KeyPresses | What numbers did the person press during the IVR process |
| Destination Phone Number | Where the call is connecting to |
| Total Duration | How long the person was on the line total |
| Total Connected Duration | How long the person was on the line and connected to the system |
| Total IVR Duration | How long a person waits in an IVR to get to an operator |
| Paid | Amount you get paid for the call |
| Payout Conditions | This tells us which qualifiers were not hit to make a call payable |
| City | City |
| Region | State/Provence |
| Repeat Caller | This is how we know if the caller has called in the past |
| Caller ID | The caller’s number |
| Phone Type | Cell or landline |
| Signal Names | This is where custom signal can be added to automatically tag a call based on what robots hear on the call |
| End of Call Reason | Sometimes a caller hangs up, sometimes the call center does |
| Recording | A recording of the call, if applicable. |
What kind of information can MediaBids derive from the data?
We have a great deal of information at our fingertips. Advertisers have access to all their call data. Publications can see how many calls they have had and how many converted to a payable result. But if you look at that long list of attributes we have for phone calls, and then add to that the list of attributes we have about publications, there really is quite a bit of data we work with. Publication attributes include things like: circulation, location, distribution, format and frequency. But there are also attributes for the individual ads you request like: size, color, start date, ad type (classified, display). On the advertiser side, attributes are things like: category or audience and industry.
Most publications have multiple versions of an ad and run what works for their space. Because we do not stipulate when or how often a publication should run an ad, some statistics can become best guesses. For instance we can guess that a publication ran an ad on a day where their phone number had call activity. But depending on the ad and the publication, running an ad doesn’t necessarily mean calls are generated. We also do not know which size/color ad a publication ended up running.
We all depend on publications having a strong presence in their communities. We depend on readers being compelled to take action by calling an ad they are interested in. MediaBids constantly works to ensure that advertisers are doing their part to hook readers and pay top rates for the business brought their way.
Not already registered with MediaBids? We’d love to work with you! Reach us at Mediabids.com, info@mediabids.com or call 860-379-9602.
If you are considering which per-response ads to run and are only looking at the payout, you are missing the bigger picture. Considering price and demand are equally important factors when picking ads and will yield more revenue for your publication.
Factors to consider:
Is the product being advertised right for your audience?
How many of your readers are likely to need and afford the product or service being offered in the ad? Is the product universal? Is it useful only for homeowners? Is it something for a specific age group? We have several categories of advertising campaigns, but our most lucrative are: Senior Home Improvement, Food, Senior Health, Telecom and Employment etc. Travel has been on again off again. Who is reading your publication and what do they want/need? What can they afford?
Is the payout made on a sale or on a call?
The payout on an ad, is a term we use to describe the amount that an advertiser is willing to pay for a measurable event. For many per-response campaigns, a payable event is a phone call that lasts longer than a defined minimum time-period. Other campaigns are per-sale, which means that a payment to a publication happens when a consumer makes a purchase using one of the tracking items in an ad.
Why are payouts so different?
There is an enormous difference in the payouts that are offered in per-response campaigns, they can range in price difference from single digits to hundreds of dollars per response. Usually, what determines how much is being paid is the cost of the thing that is being sold. If a product is very expensive, the anticipation would be that the product would have a higher payout. However, the same factors that allow an advertiser to offer a higher payout also inhibit overall response. In other words, very expensive items or services are less likely to receive a high volume of response than lower price offerings, this is just economics and not unique to newspaper advertising.
How much is the payout per qualified response?
Response programs pay a per response rate, but the more response you receive, the more money is earned. If a very high payout item receives no response, it doesn’t matter how much it pays because no money will be earned. Therefore, it will generate more revenue to pick a campaign that is going to get solid response at a lower rate, than a campaign that is going to pay get little response at a higher rate.
Understandably, the first thing that many publications look at is the payout. Naturally, it would be nice if there were campaigns that were both very high price and very high volume and, occasionally, we do find these. However, when considering which campaigns to run, don’t just look at the price.
If you would like to discuss how to choose which campaigns to run, please call us at 860-379-9602 or visit www.MediaBids.com.
So, you are running ads from Mediabids in your publication but your response is not what you had hoped? This is a frustrating problem, but there are some steps we can take to try to correct things.
First, ask yourself if the product or service being advertised is really a good fit for your readership. Sometimes publications choose ads from Mediabids because they like the payout, or like how the ad looks but are not paying attention to the single most important thing, which is do your readers want what is being advertised? There are several things to consider – is the price something that they can afford? Is the product or service being advertised relevant to your area and your readership’s needs? Generac Home Generators is a great campaign, but if your publication is in an area where the power never goes out, it probably won’t do very well.
Second, are there other parts of your publication where you can use the ad? Different people seek different types of content and it might be worthwhile to try the ad in a place where a different group of people, who are more likely to respond, might be looking. Classified sections, a TMC product, or on your website are all examples of sections within your publication that attract distinct audiences.
If you feel confident that the ad is right for your audience and it still is not getting results, then we have a different type of problem and the answer might be trying a different campaign. It is ok to switch campaigns and not every ad works in every publication, sometimes for reasons that are very hard to identify. By changing the ads you are running and observing the results that they generate, you can better identify what resonates with your audience. So to do this effectively – watch the weekly reports of your results that Mediabids sends and then at the end of the month, review your results carefully. If you are running an ad and it isn’t working, let’s try something different. The goal of Mediabids’ program is to make your publication money.
If you would like suggestions or to review the ads you are currently running, please contact us at www.MediaBids.com or 860-379-9602.
by Vicki MacDonald, MediaBids
You might be wondering how a phone number can be used to determine how many people respond to a print ad. This brief article explains how unique phone numbers in ads can be used to track response.
First, it is important to understand that any advertised phone number can be routed to any other destination number. For example, a phone number for a local business can be routed to ring at a call center across the country, or a cell phone, or a land line hanging on the wall of that business. Think of an advertised phone number as a transparent entry point into a phone system, the number that a customer dials does not necessarily have any geographic relationship to where it rings.
The most common way to use phone numbers in print ads is to advertise using a unique phone number to determine how many people have called from each individual ad. This is possible because when a call is made and then transferred, the initial number called is able to gather and retain data on the call and caller. What this means is that by placing a phone number in a print ad and then routing it to a customer, the data associated with that call is available to the owner of the phone number in the ad, even though it rings somewhere else. Using this technique, it is easy to see how many people called an ad, how long they spent on the phone, the geographic location where the call originated and which party hung up the phone first.
Here are some things to watch when using numbers to track results:
If you would like more information, or have any questions we can assist with, please email vmacdonald@mediabids.com
Thank you to Keypoint Intelligence for featuring MediaBids in its analysis of the benefits of print products as part of the omnichannel mix. Read the full article here: https://www.keypointintelligence.com/news/editors-desk/2021/april/leveraging-the-benefits-of-print-advertising-with-digital-capabilities/
For over a decade, MediaBids has been driving print advertising revenue to newspaper publishers through its unique performance-based print advertising program. Every time a reader makes a qualified phone call, online inquiry, or purchase in response to a print ad placed on behalf one of MediaBids’ impressive roster of direct-response advertisers, the publication driving the response earns revenue. To date, August of 2020 has been the program’s most successful month ever, generating hundreds of thousands of ad dollars for newspapers large and small across the country. A daily newspaper in NY earned $40K during this record-breaking month from running a wide array MediaBids’ ads that were a perfect fit for their readership .
“MediaBids’ print ads have been a lucrative tool for our publication month-after-month. The revenue has been substantial and is increasing over time; 2020 has been a tough year in many respects, but MediaBids’ ads have been a bright spot. We can always count on receiving classified liner ads from top national brands, right when we need them. It’s easy to participate, and the team is great to work with.” – Janelle Anderson, Wisconsin Community Papers
“We have always believed in the power of newspapers and appreciate the crucial role they play in society – perhaps now more than ever before. We are proud to be an ally of the publishing industry and continue to strive to drive as much revenue as possible to print media brands to support their journalistic efforts.” – Jedd Gould, President, MediaBids Inc.
Newspapers can create a free profile on the MediaBids’ website (www.mediabids.com) to view a full list of available advertisers and payout information. Each ad has a unique phone number or URL that tracks response specifically to each publisher, and earnings are paid out monthly. There is no cost for newspapers or magazines to use MediaBids.
About MediaBids
MediaBids brings together newspapers and large consumer brands to leverage the power of print advertising to generate new customers for clients and additional revenue for publications.
For more information, contact MediaBids at 800-545-1135 or visit www.mediabids.com
An article this morning on The Drum discussed concerns from advertisers over digital ad viewablity.
Digital advertising has drawn a huge portion of ad dollars away from print over the past decade. Its transparency, click/conversion tracking capabilities, distribution potential as well as granular targeting have won over the minds of most marketers. But, digital advertising is not perfect, and advertisers are starting to have some serious concerns about how often their digital ads are actually seen.
According to Digiday, “up to 54 percent of (digital) ads aren’t viewable“. That means marketers are wasting up to half of their digital advertising budgets are ads that will never be seen by anyone.
In the course of this article, Robert Thompson, the CEO of News Corp. made a great point in favor of print ads –
“As I’ve said before and it’s worth emphasizing again, every print ad is 100% viewable.”
So true. Not only are print ads 100% viewable, but they’re also acted upon. From just the ads we place in print, we see thousands of phone calls a day. Print ads are less intrusive. Print ads have longevity. Print ads deserve a bigger place in the minds of marketers.
Yesterday, print ads that we ran for our MediaBids clients generated 2,000 phone calls from interested consumers. Two-thousand living, breathing people across the US studied these print ads, and made the calculated decision to pick up the phone. We see this kind of activity from newspaper and magazine ads everyday, and we’re not the only ones that still believe in print. Take a look at a few studies that show print advertising is still alive:
1.) Study Reveals Advertising With Newspaper Triples Campaign Effectiveness– This interesting study out of the UK released last week reports that “On a sector by sector basis, the research found that adding newspapers to a campaign increases effectiveness by 5.7 times for finance; three times for travel; 2.8 times for retail; 1.7 times for automotive.” Impressive numbers.
2.) GFK MRI Research Study – 61% of readers take action after seeing a print magazine ad – Whether it’s clipping a coupon, making a purchase or gathering more information about an advertiser, magazine readers are spurred to action when they see an ad that interests them.
3.) Nielson Study Shows Newspaper Ads Lead in Engagement – Newspaper ads are viewed as both trustworthy and engaging. “The central focus of the study is engagement, and, in the aggregate score for eleven metrics of engagement, print or online newspapers scored 43 percent, followed by TV stations and their websites at 37 percent. Radio and Internet both received 41 percent.”
Whether you’re looking to drive traffic to a website or call center, print ads are still a useful tool in driving awareness and engagement.
At Mediabids we recently became aware of a somewhat unique insert program at the San Francisco Chronicle. They call it the ”slim jim.” It’s essentially a multi-page, double-sided pamphlet (full-color, 6 wide x 10.5 tall.) In fact, you may have seen a similar ”insert” from American Express or another lux brand in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. Anyway, this got us thinking about inserts and newspapers in a slightly different way.
One unique aspect of the slim jim product is the personalization feature; the inserts are going to San Francisco Chronicle subscribers only. As such, the advertiser prints ”Exclusively For San Francisco Chronicle Subscribers” on the front and back cover. This tactic isn’t necessarily cutting-edge but it is more often used in direct mail than newspaper inserts. Furthermore, the advertiser is using a unique phone number specifically assigned for the slim jim. The calls (both inquiries and sales/reservations) are then tracked back to the paper’s subscriber list. The tracking/reporting allows the advertiser to precisely measure ROI.
A top travel brand has been running the slim jim consistently for the past year. By all accounts it has been a very successful effort. Relative to a simple newspaper display ad, the slim jim really plays to the strengths of the advertiser and newspapers. Indeed, for advertisers and publications, there’s a lot to like about this type of insert product because it is essentially ”content marketing via newspapers.”
There are several reasons why newspapers are ideal content marketing distributors – targeting and context to name two. Affluent households are readers and print is a proven, high-conversion media channel. Insert products, like the slim jim in particular, allow for engaging graphics and copy -qualities that tend to be more appreciated by affluent, print media consumers. Perhaps most important though, good content can further the duo marketing goals of brand and sales. Print display ads, on the other hand, tend to struggle to further more than one objective at a time at a time.
Don’t get me wrong, the idea of newspapers as content marketing distributors is not new. Advertorials have been a part of print publishing for generations and we are only a couple of years removed from the ”native ad” craze of the early 2010s.
We are well into the era of digital publishers being content marketers themselves and offering content marketing services to clients. Content is ”king” and print publishers are beginning to catch-up to the idea. Nevertheless, beyond the largest metro dailies, the idea that newspapers (and inserts) are a great way to distribute marketing content may not be top-of-mind in print ad sales departments around the country.
Increasingly, advertisers want marketing campaigns that are cost-effective, measureable, ideally allow for the right amount of personalization and reach qualified consumers or purchasers efficiently. The San Francisco Chronicle’s slim jim (and similar insert products) check off many of these ”must haves” of smart marketers in 2016.
Post by Jim Jinks
The Print Observer - Newspaper & Magazine Advertising Insights 