Experian Simmons and Affinity will combine information from their respective National Consumer and American Magazine studies into a combined database for media buyers and marketers within the next month. The companies announced the partnership May 6.
The combination of Experian Simmons’ data on consumer attitudes, lifestyles and psychographics with Affinity’s audience estimates will bridge a gap in media planning, said Tom Robinson, managing director at Affinity.
“We had people tell us they used Simmons’ research to establish a target audience, then tried to incorporate that with other systems that had the magazine numbers in place,” he said. “Now, they’ll be able to do that within the same system.”
Ken Wollenberg, general manager of Experian Simmons, said the partnership will help marketers determine the effectiveness of both endemic and general ads. Endemic ads align with a magazine’s coverage area.
“The [marketer] will be able to say, not only did the reader see this ad, but what do I know about them that will allow me to put together a very complete retention program or acquisition program,” he said.
The companies plan to keep marketers’ costs low by making the data available through an online interface.
Experian Simmons has managed a similar program with Nielsen since 2002. Simmons BehaviorGraphics integrates consumer data from the National Consumer Study with viewership data from the Nielsen Television Index.
