Now it's Magazines that Drive Traffic to the Web

For the first half of 2008, magazine ad revenue fell by 7.4 percent. Through an industry trade group, the Magazine Publishers of America, this sector of the media industry is launching an aggressive campaign to convince ad buyers that magazines move merchandise.

In a new twist, the campaign argues that magazines create a state of "purchase intent" in consumers, many of whom will then go online to make their purchase. The campaign is called "Under the Influence of Magazines," and among the research it references are these two tidbits:

* People are two times as likely to visit a website after seeing a magazine ad.
* Seeing a magazine ad increased web traffic by more than 40 percent.

It wasn't long ago that media people were trying to use websites to drive traffic to their print products. At least to some extent, this campaign argues for the opposite -- magazines drive traffic to the web.