Engagement Metric Added to Australia's emma

Australian industry body The Readership Works has enhanced its 'emma' readership survey with the addition of a new engagement metric, designed to demonstrate a reader's unique relationship with specific printed newspapers - including regional dailies - and magazines.

emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia), which is funded by the newspaper industry and run by Ipsos MediaCT, gathers data from more than 54,000 people a year, and examines their readership across all newspaper and magazine formats including print, online and mobile devices, including tablets.

Data for the new engagement metric has been collected from interviews with more than 20,000 respondents drawn from the study. The resulting metric currently categorises reader-specific data through the grouping of respondents into more than 50 demographic and 'buyer-graphic' variables, with several more to be added in the future. Users can view data on how various newspapers and magazines engage readers generally, or among specific demographic categories defined by age, location, gender, marital status and working status.

Engagement, as a measurement, has been grouped into five 'axes': source of copy, loyalty to publication, motivation to purchase, connection to brand, and the action of the consumer post-read, in order to cover the reader journey from the actual exposure to the publication through to any action that occurs as a consequence.

Readership Works General Manager Mal Dale (pictured) explains: 'It's universally accepted by publishers, advertisers and media buyers alike, that there is a special relationship between print publications and readers that is unique to that medium, and this needed to be quantified. Typically a newspaper or a magazine is a medium of choice; you go out to a newsstand and buy it and you engage with it one-to-one.'

Web site: www.thenewspaperworks.com.au .