Use of consumer survey data to target cessation messages to smokers through mass media

Objectives. We identified the mass media channels that reach the most cigarette smokers in an attempt to more effectively target smoking cessation messages.Methods. Reach estimates and index scores for smokers were taken from 2002–2003 ConsumerStyles and HealthStyles national surveys of adults (N=11660) to estimate overall and demographic-specific exposure measures for television, radio, newspapers, and magazines.Results. Smokers viewed more television, listened to more radio, and read fewer magazines and newspapers than did nonsmokers. Nearly one third of smokers were regular daytime or late-night television viewers. Selected cable television networks (USA, Lifetime, and Discovery Channel) and selected radio genres, such as classic rock and country, had high reach and were cost-efficient channels for targeting smokers.Conclusions. Certain mass media channels offer efficient opportunities to target smoking cessation messages so they reach relatively large audiences of smokers at relatively low cost. The approach used in this study can be applied to other types of health risk factors to improve health communication planning and increase efficiency of program media expenditures.One of the basic principles of communication planning is to understand audiences better; doing so makes it possible to develop messages most likely to resonate with target audiences and reach them more frequently.1^,2 Audience segmentation is one of the core tools that enables communication and marketing planners to better understand their audiences.3^,4 One objective of audience segmentation is to identify the communication channels through which an audience receives information.5^,6 Knowledge of communication channels is especially important given the resource constraints typical in public health communication and social marketing efforts and the increasing fragmentation of media channels.3^,7 Investing time and resources in delivering messages through channels inappropriate or inefficient for reaching intended audiences is economically wasteful and unlikely to have the intended effect.1^,2^,8Surprisingly, to our knowledge no published studies have addressed the communication channels through which cigarette smokers regularly receive information, and whether channels used by smokers differ from those used by nonsmokers. Furthermore, it is not known if communication channels differ among subgroups of smokers (e.g., by demographic characteristics). If smokers pay attention to distinctive communication channels, mass media efforts designed to increase the use of cessation services, such as telephone quit lines can be better planned to target those distinctive channels.From a communication or marketing planning perspective, it is more important to know the size of the intended audience that could be exposed to messages (reach) than the extent of smoking among specific channel users (prevalence). For example, if a television show had a smoking prevalence among viewers of 15% but attracted 40% of all smokers (reach), the potential effect of a cessation message would be fairly large compared with a show for which 50% of viewers were smokers (prevalence) but who constituted only 1% of all smokers (reach). The cost for placing mass media advertisements, as well as the likelihood that a media company would permit the placement of an unpaid message such as a public service announcement, is directly related to reach: mass communication companies charge higher advertising rates to reach audiences with larger numbers of people.9 The cost for running a 30-second advertisement during the Super Bowl can exceed $2 million because of the overall large audience size10; however, this is not likely to be the most cost-efficient approach to expose smokers to cessation ads, especially given the limited budgets for many tobacco control programs.We used a nationally representative survey to examine measures of mass media channel use among respondents who smoke and respondents who don’t smoke cigarettes. The mass media channels included preferred television genres, networks, and programs; preferred radio genres; newspaper use; and magazines read regularly. Additionally, we compared mass media exposure measures by smoking status and stratified by age, gender, and race/ethnicity.