JWT research exposes myth of right-hand page ad sites

Press buyers’ fight for a right-hand advertising site in newspapers is less important than they think, according to research by J Walter Thompson.

JWT’s Project Cosine has found that, in the tabloid market, left page or right-hand page ads are equally noted by readers. In the broadsheets, right-hand pages increase awareness by 31 per cent.

The research supports the premiums paid by advertisers for positions in the front third of news- papers, the use of colour and the use of solus ads. But it finds that a combination of all three has a greater effect on awareness than the premium paid for them.

The same effect is found in its TV research, Project Tangent. The premium paid for centre versus end break, early positions in break and share of break are reflected by what the market pays for it. But combinations of factors lift awareness by a factor higher than the premium paid by media buyers.

Project Tangent and Cosine are part of a three-year, 2m investment in research by JWT. The results are being turned into software applications that will be used by all its media planners and buyers.

“This is not just about publicity, but about effecting better media practice throughout the agency,” says James Walker, JWT’s media development director. “Specifying a certain amount of centre breaks or ‘first in breaks’ as part of a schedule is not going far enough. What buyers need to do is look at how these factors work together.”