As consumer activity on the web increases, marketers are making the Internet a more important element in their marketing plans, seeking to drive consumers to their websites. As a result, web traffic and search results are increasingly regarded as measures of marketing success.

To strengthen marketers’ “drive to web” efforts, Magazine Publishers of America has complied independent research that documents how various online and offline media influence consumers’ online behavior, including:

• The role of media in driving online traffic, search and purchase behavior

• The role of media in driving consumer response to online video ads

The research includes both third-party surveys from the American Advertising Federation (AAF), BigResearch (in a study done for the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association), Mediamark Research, Inc., and the Online Publishers Association, as well as a new quantitative analysis from the research and consulting firm Marketing Evolution that shows the impact of magazines in affecting web visits, examining results throughout the purchase funnel.

Overall Conclusions

• Offline media perform well in driving web traffic and search—often better than online media, even when URL addresses are often missing or not prominently displayed in offline ads

• Media synergy is important, although each medium influences online behavior
differently and plays a distinctive role

• Looking at qualified search—those consumers ready to make a purchase—paints a different picture of media usage than total search, which is most often the focus of advertisers

• When looking at the role individual media play in driving web results, magazines
most consistently drive web traffic and search

Conclusions from Quantitative Analysis

• Magazine ads had a major impact on building web traffic

• Magazine ads generated web traffic at each stage of the purchase funnel,
especially purchase intent

• Including a URL in magazine ads significantly increased web visits