Center for Media Research - Fairfield Research, Inc.

402.441.3370

Media Research of the Future...Today

Established in 1982, Fairfield Research, Inc. has focused on conducting media research with a high degree of methodological sophistication. In the 80’s Fairfield led the way in adapting sophisticated statistical methods to the measurement of audiences and their media behaviors.

In 1989 Fairfield had forty CATI telephone stations for executing phone surveys and a large print and mailing facility to conduct mail-response research. That same year, Fairfield began to study using new, Internet- based research methods in lieu of mail response, phone and personal interviews. With Hearst Magazines and also then, Times-Mirror Magazines, Fairfield conducted the first online subscriber surveys—those test waves being compared to concurrent study waves using a traditional mail-response method of sample contact. After reviewing the results of those test studies, Fairfield began an initiative to develop an online research method for every type of media study we were currently doing using mail-response and telephone interviews.

Nearly twenty years later we have shifted virtually all of our research methods of sample contact to using the Internet. While we do maintain the ability to conduct mail-response, personal and telephone interviews, the growth of web technologies has clearly put the Internet as the fastest, least expensive and most accurate means of gathering media-research information today.

Fairfield has consistently invested in technology and has developed its own suite of proprietary software. In dealing with the increasing issues with regard to SPAM versus legitimate research, Fairfield maintains its own servers and has become independent of hosts and upstream ISP’s. For our media clients we have developed a suite of online research services that allows them to access the media research of tomorrow….

Online Study Suite….

Audience and Readership Studies

Fairfield can quickly and inexpensively field audience and readership studies that profile your audience or readership. Common objectives include measuring your audience’s or readership’s purchasing power and determining the purchase-decision process for all types of goods and services.

Advertising Performance Studies

Fairfield can provide a complete analysis of advertisers’ advertisements, and lead-to-sales behaviors elicited by the advertising. Fairfield’s ad studies can go beyond advertising recall and develop the ROI of an ad placement in your media versus the ROI of ads placed in competing media. Print, audio and video advertisements can be included in each study.

Editorial Evaluation and Development Studies

Fairfield has decades of experience in analyzing the editorial product. Genre of editorial as well as specific articles can be analyzed and prioritized by readership and reader preference. Gauge your subscribers’ interest in a wide array of articles, topics and article genre. Measure and track your editorial product’s performance as perceived by the reader.

Advertising Pre-testing

Advertisers can pre-test their advertising creative by using your subscribers. Alternative advertisements can be viewed and evaluated by your subscribers, providing advertisers with sound information upon which they can develop their final creative. Ads can be pre-tested for Fairfield’s advertising themes such as Grabber, Image Extension, etc.

Newsstand Cover Studies

Through a proven study method, Fairfield has developed a means to determine which elements of a magazine’s cover most positively impact newsstand sales. Through an in-depth analysis of the many elements of a cover, merged with historical sell-through data, Fairfield can assist Publishers, Circulation Managers, Editors and Art Directors in understanding what makes the optimum cover with regard to newsstand sell through.

Web Site Studies

Magazines are increasingly integrating their online and print strategies with regard to both advertising and the editorial product. Fairfield has developed numerous studies that measure and determine the effectiveness of cross-media advertising and special promotions, both in print and online. Also, Fairfield is versed in framing studies that optimally build and document a large, crossmedia audience and readership.

National Consumer Studies

Fairfield has built and maintains its own research panel of U.S. Adult consumers. This panel can be used to build national norms and or to Index your subscribers and readers against a national norm. National Studies have also been used to accurately measure true reach and frequencies of magazine readership.

Research Reports and Circulars

Fairfield conducts media-research studies on behalf of its clients and provides those as a value-added service. For over ten years, Fairfield has conducted an annual Media Consumption In America Study that measures the trends in American Adults and their involvement with all forms of media—from newspaper readership to iPod music—Internet surfing to reading a magazine. The report also looks at key demographic segments and their media behaviors. In addition, Fairfield has developed research circulars on the effectiveness of trade advertising, as well as the Impact of Ad Frequency on consumer sales.