We’ve compiled seven reports that show the changing role of print magazines in a digital world.
In a mature digital landscape, marketers complain about digital ad clutter, rising prices, distrust of social media ads, click fraud, and big tech’s control over pricing and tracking results.
Meanwhile, print magazines have re-emerged as an essential part of a marketing mix. Studies show that print has superpowers that break through the clutter and reach customers more persuasively.
However, the magazine industry still has its work cut out in educating marketers.
Every year, a few high-profile magazine failures go viral content while the new research and quiet strengths of niche magazines, like the rest of the good news, does not.
It is the role of niche media to educate marketers – especially younger marketers – who may be unaware of recent data trends.
Below, find copies of the best reports and a summary of what’s inside them.
1. “The Value of Print in a Digital World”
Summary: When the magazine for Professional Photographers of America (PPA) began to find more manufacturers reluctant to place traditional ads, they decided to take action.
“These people were selling expensive equipment to photographers. Photographers!” said one advertising seller during the 2024 Niche Media Conference, frustrated that even an audience most likely to be engaged by compelling images in print was overlooked.
PPA commissioned a white paper aggregating most third-party research studies in a report, The Value of Print in a Digital World, with links to 30 research sources.
Top Findings: Magazine readership is increasing
Despite the erosion of mass newspaper circulation (14% for the top 25 major newspapers in 2023), and a few high profile large magazine failures, magazine readership actually grew by 18 million from 2012 to 2019, with a slight drop during the pandemic/
Magazine readership increased by 300,000 in 2021 ( Statista, 2024) and continues to grow.
Since 2013, Statica noted a 13% increase in men and a 19% increase in women reading magazines (print and digital). The data shows that:
- The largest group is younger – 25 to 34, followed by 18 to 24 and 35 to 44.
- In fact, 95% of people 25 or younger read magazines.
- While these numbers reflect both print and digital magazines, and the younger generation is more inclined towards digital, print is still winning overall.
- Women are more heavily engaged in print, and most adults prefer print magazines
A preference for print over digital
The report also cites numerous studies that show why people prefer to consume information on paper – it slows down the experience, increases retention, and is easier to digest. They “cite the sensory experience as the primary benefit.”
Some of the most compelling research on print involved young people, including a study of 459 students. They found information in print was easier to understand and “aesthetically more enjoyable, saying things such as ‘I like the smell of paper’ or that reading in print is ‘real reading.’
Print also gave them a sense of where they were in the book—they could ‘see’ and ‘feel’ where they were in the text.” Other factors noted in the report, all backed by footnoted sources:
- Print was “less likely to encourage multitasking,” leading to higher retention.
- People retained more information from paper-based books than from Kindle books and pads.
- The tenure of magazines promoted trust in the content and the ads.
- “DIY tools and social media allow anyone to publish anything online without quality standards, vetting processes, or fact-checking,” while print content and advertisers are seen as more permanent and trustworthy.
The study notes that “without a window to close, a feed to scroll, or an email to delete, print is less intrusive, more leisurely, and holds the readers’ attention.”
Print is the most trusted of all media, while social media is the least trusted.
Trust is a key area that leads to purchasing influence. “eMarketer shows print is the most trustworthy source of advertising across all media, tied with TV and capturing 46% of respondents. By comparison, social media is the least trustworthy, with less than 1 in 5 adults calling it a reputable media source.”
The report concludes marketers should add print to the mix and use QR codes with offers and compelling messages to add some of the end-of-funnel tracking they are used to from digital campaigns. Click on the PDF for a downloadable copy of the full report.
2. Neuroscience: An Emotional Win for Paper
Neuromarketing.com illustrated their story with a brain delivered in a mailbox.
Summary: A major contribution to understanding print’s new superpower comes from the emerging field of neuromarketing science.
Neuromarketing.com, a neuromarketing agency with a science-based approach to increasing sales, says print is winning the emotional battle to persuade readers. It cites a recent neuroscientific study created by Temple University Consumer Neuroscience researchers for the U.S. Post Office.
An article by Tom Dooley, author of Friction (McGraw Hill, April 26, 2019) and Brainfluence (Wiley) and host of the Brainfluence Podcast, takes a deep dive into the brain science that connects the tactile quality of print to higher recall and persuasion.
Temple scientists used various scientific methods to test ad recall and emotional reactions to print versus digital ads in a sample of 56 people while looking at different print and digital ads.
Top Findings: Print improves ad engagement, recall, and persuasiveness
The results are outlined below, shows physical print outperformed digital in five of nine measurements of ad effectiveness. Another three were tied.
Quoting from Dooley, these findings include:
- Digital ads were processed more quickly.
- Paper ads engaged viewers for more time.
- Subjects reported no preference for either medium and absorbed about the same amount of information from both media.
- However, a week later, subjects showed greater emotional response to and memory of the physical media ads.
- Physical ads caused more activity in brain areas associated with value and desire.”
Brain waves tell all
Not to get too far into the scientific weeds, but the neuroscience of marketing has come a long way. The researchers put a subsection of the people they studied into an MRI machine a week after the original exposure to print and digital ads.
When asked about print ads, the areas of the brain associated with purchasing behavior lit up, while digital ads had virtually no response.
Temple’s earlier research has shown that “the ventral striatum is the brain structure whose activity most predictive of future purchasing,” a phenomenon also covered in Dooley’s podcast entitled, Scientists Get Closer to The “Buy Button.”
Print will drive online sales
Print drives digital sales since purchasers motivated by print move online for further research and to make a purchase, Dooley said. The Print/digital mix would be especially important for high-emotion products, distinctive brands, and products that “benefit from compelling images” – like, hmmm, photography.
Another study (below) showing a 400% increase confirms the power of the print/digital mix.
3. “In a crowded market, print gives an edge”
Ironically, MarketingProfs is an online-only niche media for marketers that came of age just as the field of digital marketing was first developing and taking sizeable chunks out of the base of print magazine advertising every year.
This is also one of the best infographics that makes the data easy to understand.
Top findings: A variety of markers support print ad effectiveness
They noted that “a whopping 92% of 18-23-year-olds find it easier to read printed content than digital,” cited a well-known report that direct mail now has a 37% higher response rate than email, and showed how print outperforms digital in overall purchasing influence.
It goes on to state that, “In a crowded market, print gives you an edge.”
An example from MarketingProfs infographic on the value of print.
4. Trust affects purchasing
Summary: MarketingSherpa is yet another fully mature, online-only trade journal covering digital marketing that now embraces the importance of including print channels.
Top findings: Customers trust print ads most when making a purchase
It has been almost a decade since a MarketingSherpa survey found that the top five most trusted advertising formats are all traditional, with customers trusting print advertising most (82%) to make purchasing decisions.
This seminal study, even more relevant today, was created by Daniel Burstein, Senior Director of Content and Marketing
The study asked 1,200 consumers: “In general, which advertising channels do you trust more when making a purchase decision? Please sort the options into ‘Ads I trust’ and ‘Ads I don’t trust that much’ categories.”
Note that this study does not measure news trust but rather specifically trust in ads when making a purchase. If the medium is the message, print wins when it comes to making a sale.
Below are the results for the “Ads I trust” category. Print—newspapers and magazines—comes out on top. 
“Advertising in newspapers and magazines will tend to add credibility to your product or service, while online pop-up ads will reduce the credibility for your product or service,” the study reports.
“This idea stems from the high bar of publishing print content vs. the ultra-low bar of publishing online content,” Burnstein wrote.
5. Print statistics you need to know
Summary: Another savvy visual explainer, FinancesOnline, has also released a report on print effectiveness.
Finance Online is an online-only directory and review site for discovering and researching business software with 2.5 million monthly users.
Top findings: Combining print and digital increases response by 4x
Their blog on the new value of print advertising notes that combining print and digital increases response by 400%, a statistic.
The 4x number, reported by Top Media Advertising, is another great data point for magazines to source in their educational blogs and materials.
So, who is The Top Media Advertising Agency? It is another digital agency specializing in digital audits, strategy, PPC, SEO, and data analytics. However, they, too, have become advocates of adding print into the mix.
They are also the source that 95% of people 25 years old and younger read magazines.
Like MarketingProfs, FinancesOnline also has a great set of cool visuals to show off various new data on print marketing.
5. Marketers Return to Traditional Media
Summary: There’s nothing like an article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), “Why Marketers Are Returning to Traditional Media”, to make the case for magazines.
The article uses data from the 28th Edition of The CMO Survey. noting that in 2021 and 2022.
Top findings: Spending on traditional media is increasing
As early as 2021, marketers predicted spending in traditional media would increase by 1.9 and 2.9%, respectively, the first increase in more than a decade..
The highest increases are in B2C Service Companies (+10.2%), B2C product companies (+4.9%), and online-only sales companies (11.7%). Ironically, one of the categories planning to spend the most on traditional media was online games.
The CMO Survey surveys the opinions of marketing leaders to predict the future of markets. According to its website, “it is the longest-running non-commercial survey for and about the marketing field.”
Consumers have become “digitally numb.”
They also cite the need for marketers to break through the digital clutter as consumers become “digitally numb.”
“They report frustration and negative brand association with digital advertising clutter that prevents them from reading an article, watching a video, or browsing a website.
“For example, a HubSpot survey found that 57% of participants disliked ads that played before a video and 43% didn’t even watch them. As a result, marketers are looking for a way to cut through the noise.”
Traditional media is now outperforming digital
The report goes on to explain why today’s ROI for print and other traditional media is competitive.
“Indeed, research by Ebiquity suggests that traditional media channels—led by TV, radio, and print—outperform digital channels in terms of reach, attention, and engagement relative to costs. This performance differential is amplified as online advertising costs have increased, especially when accounting for impression, click, and conversion fraud. ”
Ebiquity provides media investment analysis, helping brand owners increase returns from their media investments, another independent source with no apparent reason to advocate for print.
The HBR also notes that “marketers are also becoming skeptical of the hyped returns of digital media because the platforms control both the advertising inventory and its effectiveness measurement.
“This has raised credibility concerns and the worry that digital advertising may be far less effective than reported.”
Any marketer who has seen traffic apparently arrive at a conversion page without the expected conversions has wondered about this new reality.
6. Newspaper readers prefer news online, while magazine readers prefer reading print
Summary: The 2023 Forbes article, headlined “Tech giants gutted publishing. Now digital fatigue is giving print a new lease on life” discusses a report from YouGov that challenges another stereotype.
YouGov plc is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm headquartered in the UK with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific,
Their study is titled “US/GB: Consumers may prefer their news online, but for magazines, it’s a different matter”
Top findings: Unlike newspaper readers, magazine readers prefer print
While newspaper readers say they prefer online, the same was not true of magazine readers, Only 29% of readers in the United States and 18% in the U.K. The study states.
7. Why print magazines refuse to die
Summary: TheConversation.com weighed the issues in an article, “Digital was supposed to kill magazines. Why aren’t they gone?”
The Conversation (theconversation.com) “ is an independent, nonprofit publisher of commentary and analysis, authored by academics and edited by journalists for the general public.” It is regularly republished with a Creative Commons license in top media such as the Washington Post and CNN. The authors provide a more cultural explanation of the magazine’s persistence and popularity, along with a few key data points.
Top findings: While some mass magazines have suffered, magazine start-ups and sales are increasing
They note the 122 magazine start-ups in the U.S. in 2021 and a 4.1% increase in magazine sales in Australia.
They also note how they are now perceived as “higher end.”
“While the circulation and influence of print magazines may have reduced, they are not necessarily dead or even dying. They can be seen as moving into a smaller, but sustainable, place in the media landscape.”
Dare we say, a niche?
Conclusions
The digitalization of almost everything has changed how marketers should think about magazines, and niche media overall. In some respects, the research may be missing part of the point that is not quite measurable. Even with the brain lobes lighting up in an MRI, the concept is counter to decades of print media bashing.
The physical packaging produces a visual and sensory “Wow” due to the size of the images and the tactile feel of high-quality paper.
The digital world also creates a kind of anxiety, requiring tunneling deeper and deeper into the rabbit holes to get a full picture of the subject matter and find all the sourcing. With the advent of Google AI in the search results, information consumers have an even more difficult time knowing what is real and how much more research they need to do.
A magazine is like a book; it has a beginning and an end. The editor has done the heavy lifting, vetting the sources or finding original ones, and making critical decisions about the the importance and arrangement of the material. In an age of anxiety, this sense of completion comes as a relief.
Here is a summary of how the view of magazines has changed since the inception of the internet.
Old paradigm
Magazines are an information distribution channel.
The value of magazines is the size of their audience.
Magazines are print publications and, thus, must be dying.
Magazines are less effective and more expensive than digital options.
Digital outperforms magazines because it reaches customers closer to the bottom of the funnel
Only digital media can track purchasing results.
New reality
Physical magazines provide a unique differentiator, enhanced by the quality of the design and paper.
Marketers are turning to magazines to stand out in the digital clutter (Harvard Business Review)
They create a higher level of purchasing influence that sustain for a longer period of time.(Temple University Neuroscience)
While newspaper readers prefer reading online, most adults prefer reading magazines in print.
Magazine readership and sales are on the rise (Statistica).
They power, rather than compete with, digital ads to improve response by 400% (TheMediaAdvertisingAgency).
Younger people are not “digitally stubborn.” Rather 92% of people under 25 years of age read magazines (TheMediaAdvertisingAgency).
Print content and ads are easier to understand and absorb, since readers are free of multitasking.
Magazines engage consumers at all stages of the purchasing cycle.
The Cost Per Acquisition for traditional media is equivalent to or better than digital, (Ebquity).
Marketers can collect end-of-funnel information by using QR codes.
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Many thanks to Francine Osora, Central and Easter Regional Manager of Professional Photographers of America for sharing their white paper on this topic, without which this report would not have been possible.
