In 2006, the City Regional Magazine Association (CRMA) commissioned a landmark study of free distribution* magazines in nine of the nation’s most affluent zip codes. The study was designed to provide a definitive answer to the following question:

If a publisher distributes a free magazine—even a very expensive looking free magazine—to prospective readers who have neither asked for it nor expressed an interest in it, will it be read and valued?

According to Monroe Mendelsohn Research (MMR), the answer is “no.”

• Free distribution titles are less likely to be read than paid/ requested titles. 64.8% of respondents said that they read paid/ requested titles while only 22.3% said that they read free
distribution titles.

• Free distribution titles are less likely to be known than paid/requested titles. 95.2% of respondents said that they had heard of the area’s top paid/requested titles while only 45.3% recognized a free distribution title.

• Free distribution titles are less valued than paid/requested titles. 47.1% of respondents rated the area’s paid/requested titles as “excellent/good” while only 12.8% said the same about free distribution titles. By factors of more than four to one, respondents rated paid/requested titles as more informative, more authoritative and more useful than their free distribution counterparts.

Conclusion: In all cases, free distribution titles prove to be significantly less well read, significantly less valued and significantly less well known than paid/requested titles in the affluent zip codes studied.

*Free distribution magazines are defined as magazines whose primary distribution base is neither paid nor controlled, e.g. developed as a result of direct reader request. Such publications are typically distributed in bulk to building lobbies, restaurants and other public locations or mailed without reader request to home or office addresses.

Advertising: mimi@ohlmag.com