Surveying

In my previous blog post, I promised to tell you about print media research in the U.S. Don't be scared, I'll try to be as brief as possible. As we all surely know, everything is bigger here in the U.S. So are media surveys! I have familiarized myself with the MRI Audience Study and the Mendelsohn Affluent Study (MMR)—the first one is basically the same as the NRS (National Readership Survey) in the Nordic countries. MRI measures magazine audiences and their consuming habits, but it is a way larger than the Finnish NRS. In Finland, we are trying to shorten the NRS questionnaire, but if I take a look at this 110-page booklet here, we have no worries!

MMR measures audiences among adults age 18+ with an annual household income of $100,000 or more. I don't think this could even be possible in Finland: we have fewer inhabitants in the whole country than there are here in New York! For this obvious reason, all figures, such as circulations and readerships, are on a much higher level here. For instance, in Finland our biggest magazine measured by readership, Tieteen Kuvalehti (the same as Science Illustrated), has 486,000 readers. In comparison, Bonnier Corporation's Parenting has more than 10,000,000 readers! Logically, the price of media space is much higher here. I can see that when I work on advertising expenditure data. Wow! Otherwise, my work here and in Finland is quite similar. Software can vary, but the base remains the same.

I was going to write about environmental issues in this post, but I think Päivi and Audrey have already done it quite comprehensively. I just want to say that my heart breaks every day at lunchtime. It is unbelievable how everything is packed in plastic and how much waste is born every single day: according to the Clean Air Council, New York City alone throws out enough garbage each day to fill the Empire State Building. And nobody sorts their waste: I have not seen any trash can for organic waste. It is pretty weird considering that eco-friendliness is a mega trend at the moment and NYC should be the trendiest place on earth...But at least I try to do my best not to cause more harm here: I love my "I <3 NY" mug!

Slide show: Surveying