MRI Tests Microchip Tags to Track Magazine Readership

In the US, GfK-owned Mediamark (MRI) has reported on tests using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology as a means of measuring magazine readership in public waiting rooms.

The technology will use microchips embedded in pages, antennae and radio waves to measure the total time spent reading a specific magazine, the number of individual reading occasions, and reader exposure to individual magazine pages.

The joint test, using DJG Marketing's Waiting Room Subscription Services (WRSS), follows more than a year of in-house testing by MRI of the RFID-driven Passive Print Monitoring System.

For the internal tests, MRI created an 'intelligent' magazine prototype that keeps track of reader activity with designated pages. An RFID tag attached to the magazine sends a signal to a tag reader each time the test subjects turn to one of the selected pages. The system records the times of the openings and closings of the pages, as well as the opening/closings of the magazine itself.

Jay Mattlin, SVP of New Ventures at MRI said that the system correctly identified magazine openings and closings an average of 95% of the time.

'The testing we did in-house suggests the power of RFID technology can be harnessed to provide passive measures of magazine pick-ups and time spent reading in public places,' said Mattlin. 'At this stage, we need to test our system in a non-laboratory setting to determine how well it holds up in this important reading environment.'

For the next stage, the Passive Print Measuring System will be placed in a set of magazines and tested in actual waiting rooms, using the WRSS proprietary database of waiting room locations. DJG Marketing, a media and marketing advisory and outsourcing group, is seeking a publisher to support the tests.

Founded in 1979, each year MRI interviews approximately 26,000 US adults about their use of media, their consumption of products and their lifestyles and attitudes. The firm, which provides magazine audience and multimedia research data through its Survey of the American Consumer study, is online at www.mediamark.com.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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