indShare hopes to improve its media planning ability with a new methodology aimed to illuminate why people read specific print titles, rather than just how often. The "Print Passion" survey was developed in India to compensate for the poor quality of media research, said WPP, but the results have inspired the WPP Group media agency to roll it out worldwide.

While media planners in the US have access to in-depth research about magazines and newspaper readership, their counterparts in developing markets, particularly Asia, receive little more than what the agency terms Average Issue Readership statistics from publishers. "Advertisers want a credible currency situation with a deeper set of data which is more brand-and product-linked," said Annette Nazaroff, MindShare�s Hong Kong-based director of consumer insights in Asia/Pacific.... more