ViewPoint
February 2016

Verified Would Like to Welcome...

Dorado Magazine
Ballantine Communications
Durango, CO
Dorado Magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine that embodies the idea confluence of wealth, outdoor pursuits, avid travel and consumption of high-end apparel, food and art. Dorado Magazine embodies the diverse spirit of the Southwest, celebrating the region's dramatic landscapes, the creative individuals who flock to its small towns and the thrill-seekers who come in search of adventures.

Wood Bioenergy
Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc.
Montgomery, AL
Wood Bioenergy is devoted to the new generation wood energy industry, including production of wood pellets, biomass power, biofuels and in-woods biomass. Distributed internationally, the magazine is recognized for its in-the-field applications stories written by a highly experience editorial staff.

Revealed, the Real American Newspaper

It is a small paper, smaller than you might think. It's also faring better.

Read the unique stories in the Media Life series "Reinventing the American Newspaper."

If you were to ask your big city newspaper reporter to describe the typical American newspaper, he or she might say The Chicago Tribune or The New York Daily News.

Journalists, regardless of their abilities as reporters, tend to see the world that's in front of them, not much beyond.

But ask a media buyer the same question, and you're likely to get similar answers.

That makes sense, since most of their newspaper buys are going to be in top 10 or top 20 markets.

But the reality is far different.

Events Calendar

INMA Big Data for Media Week
April 11 – 15, 2016
New York, NY
www.inma.org

Essentials of Digital Media
April 12, 2016
New York, NY
www.academyofdigitalmedia.com

IAB Digital Sales Certification Exam Prep Session
April 13, 2016
New York, NY
www.academyofdigitalmedia.com

NAA MediaXChange
April 17, 2016
Washington, DC
www.naa.org

AFCP Annual Conference & Trade Show
April 28 – 30, 2016
San Diego, CA
www.afcp.org

If you have an event that you would like to announce,
please send your information to e-newsletter@verifiedaudit.com.

80% of People Would Reconsider Installing
Ad Blockers, Cite Word-of-Mouth

Teads, a native video advertising platform, recently released a global study on why people block ads. Among the notable findings, 80% of those surveyed said they'd reconsider installing ad blockers if offered the choice to skip or close an ad. Three out of four U.S. respondents said that intrusive ads were the biggest motivator for installing ad blockers.

The study, conducted by Research Now, surveyed more than 9,000 respondents globally who represented three groups: active ad blockers on desktop/laptop, active ad blockers on mobile (smartphones/tablets) and respondents who are aware of blockers but have not yet installed them.

Among the key findings for U.S. market respondents:

– Intrusive formats: 52% of respondents who have installed ad blockers rate pre-roll as the most intrusive video format. Not surprisingly, pop-ads are the largest driver of ad blockers.

– Word of mouth: 44% of people who installed ad blockers on a mobile phone or desktop found out about ad blockers from their peers.

– The Web browser matters: 67% of respondents who are active ad blocker users reported using blockers on Chrome, versus 38% on Firefox.

– Profile of an ad blocker: On mobile, blockers were 22% more likely to be male and 78% more likely to be Hispanic. On desktop, blockers were 32% more likely than mobile blockers to be willing to see non-intrusive ads.

"There is a misconception that users are revolting against advertising in its entirety," Bertrand Quesada, CEO of Teads told Real-Time Daily via email. "When users were asked which features of an ad would reduce their motivation to install an ad blocker, 80% of users responded they wanted an ad experience that provides the choice to view; whereas fewer than 1 in 5 responded that there was nothing that could reduce their motivation to install. This demonstrates that there is an appetite for a solution outside of ad blockers. Users simply want a seamless and non-intrusive online ad experience."

"People around the world have expressed an aversion to intrusive ad formats, but providing people choice is a global solution," said Rebecca Mahony, CMO, Teads, in Teads' release on the study. "The rise of ad blockers signals a wake-up call for the advertising industry and we must pay attention to the demands of consumers for advertising that respects their online experience."

The Teads' ad blocker study was conducted in major media markets across the world, including the U.S., Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina) and the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France and Italy.

Key findings in the global markets include:

• The largest number of respondents who list ads that provide a choice to view as motivation not to block ads were found in Mexico and Spain, with 89% of respondents agreeing this is the biggest motivator.

• Argentinians were the most turned off by pre-roll ads, with 57% of respondents ranking pre-roll as highly intrusive. Interestingly, respondents from Argentina preferred in-article native video ads, with only 13% of respondents finding these units highly intrusive.

• In Germany, the home of Adblock Plus, respondents' motivation to block ads due to intrusive formats is very high, at 72% of respondents. But 83% of respondents said they would avoid using ad blockers due to formats that offer choice.

© 2016 MediaPost Communications

Revised Receipt and Readership Survey
Procedures for Free Carrier Publications

In the past, as a component of an audit for Free Carrier publications with a circulation over 10,000, Verified conducted a Receipt and Readership survey to serve as a verification of distribution. The survey was conducted once every two years. The survey was conducted by telephone calling into residences within the delivery area.

Over time, conducting surveys over the telephone has lost much of its value as a means of data collection. Resistance from households to answer unsolicited calls, caller ID and the rapid adoption of cell phones as the primary phone in a household have all contributed to significant drops in response rates. This not only makes a telephone survey difficult to conduct, but also produces results that may not accurately represent a publication's readership. Certain demographic groups (age range, income level, ethnicity, etc.) are less likely to complete phone surveys.

Verified's audit and research staff has developed alternative methodology for conducting surveys that will verify distribution and take into account the existing limitations of telephone surveys.

Going forward, Verified will conduct a visual field survey of addresses within a publication's stated distribution area. Surveyors will be instructed to confirm the delivery of the publication by examining a minimum of five addresses per street, throughout randomly selected delivery areas. Verified will conduct surveys using the publication's distribution mode such as maps, ZIP codes, block groups, street level address, etc. Results of the survey will be included in your audit report.

If a publication wants to collect readership information, Verified will conduct a brief (5 to 8 question) online survey to establish reader habits, demographics, etc. A sample of the online survey can be found here: Sample Survey. Some of the online survey questions may be customized or questions may be added. Once a sufficient number of survey responses have been completed (a minimum of 200 for a +5% margin of error), Verified will provide the publication with a report of the findings.

The revised methodology will improve the process of confirming distribution while offering an option to collect audience information that may prove useful to a publication's marketing efforts.

If you have questions about the revised Receipt and Readership surveys, please call Verified at 415-461-6006.

Please send comments and story ideas to
e-newsletter@verifiedaudit.com or contact us at:

Verified Audit Circulation
900 Larkspur Landing Circle, Suite 230
Larkspur, CA 94939-1758
415.461.6006
415.461.6007 fax