In our last post we explored the impact of color on magazine advertisement recall. As promised, our follow-up post explores the impact of size on advertisement recall.
We used the same data set for this analysis. Results were taken from the Ad-Q Studies database which contains nearly 195,000 records dating as far back as 1994. For this analysis, we limited the data set to the last four years (2009-2012) and we examined only those studies which utilized our online methodology. Only main issue, run-of-the-book advertisements were included (i.e., no cover position ads, no ads appearing as loose inserts or in special supplements).
Not surprisingly, size has an even greater impact on advertisement recall than color does. In fact, the difference was very significant and dramatic.
Impact of Fractional vs. Full Page for Black and White Advertisements

On average, recall seeing for full page black and white ads is 72.2% higher than for fractional black and white ads.

On average, recall reading for full page black and white ads is 87.5% higher than for fractional black and white ads.
Impact of Fractional vs. Full Page for Color Advertisements

On average, recall seeing for full page color ads is 53.8% higher than for full page fractional color ads.

On average, recall reading for full page color ads is 72.7% higher than for full page fractional color ads.
In reviewing both the impact of color and the impact of size, the more dominant attribute is clearly ad size. We’ve summarized our findings in this chart:
The most accurate analysis is always based on your own data. If you’re a current client, contact us to have an analysis run on your studies and/or to obtain industry averages (based on SRDS‘ Standard Industry Categories for business and consumer publications) for your title.
Now that we’ve covered the impact of size and color on magazine advertising recall, what ad characteristic are you most curious about?
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