QR codes lose steam in magazine ads

QR codes in magazines

QR codes in magazinesThe share in this printed format for the barcodes has fallen to 70 percent.

According to the latest results of a Nellymoser study, the mobile responses that the print ads in magazine are having are continuing along in their evolution, as 20 percent of the activations that are generated through these ads come from image-based activations – for example, invisible watermarks – as opposed to QR codes and other barcode based activations.

The study looked into the results that were produced by more than 170,000 pages in leading publications.

Nellymoser, a mobile marketing company, examined ads from the leading 100 magazines, looking into over 170,000 individual pages and discovered that QR codes, on their own, had lost ground in their share. Where they had previously held 80 percent, they had dropped to 70 percent, as image based activations have started to see an increase in their own use.

This has occurred as print marketers seek out new opportunities beyond QR codes to connect with the digital.

According to the Nellymoser executive vice president and chief digital officer, John Puterbaugh, “We expect this year-over-year growth to continue, fueled by the unique opportunity for editors to connect their print and digital content and engage readers via mobile.”

That said, even though there has been a decline in the number of activations as a result of barcode use, Puterbaugh went on to say that “QR codes still do quite well when deployed properly.” The Nellymoser research showed that one out of every three scans were not leading to websites that had been optimized for mobile. This was an increase from the last survey conducted by the firm, at which time one out of every four experience were leading to sites that weren’t optimized.

This shift in interactions over smartphones was explained by Puterbaugh through two things: brand cohesiveness and aesthetics. He explained that aesthetics allow for the use of invisible watermarks so that existing images can be made to be interactive, which many people find more appealing than QR codes. Image-based activations could also add enhancements to the content in the magazine, such as through video by way of augmented reality.

Leave a Comment


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.