The Relationship of Screen-in Rates and Readership Levels in MRI and SMRB

Comparison between the two methods of readership research used in the US: Through the Book (TTB) as used by SMRB, and Recent Reading (RR) as used by MRI.

The Relationship of Screen-in Rates and Readership Levels in MRI and SMRB

Daniel T Mallett Jr

For the past decade two commercial research services - Mediamark Research, Inc. (MRI) and Simmons Market Research Bureau (SMRB) - have dominated syndicated magazine audience measurement in the United States.

The two services use different questioning procedures to establish magazine readership. MRI uses Recent-Reading, in which the respondent is asked if he or she read or looked into any issue of the title in question within the last publishing cycle (eg, 7 days for a weekly, 30 days for a monthly, etc.). SMRB uses...

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