An exploratory study of bingo card use in consumer magazines

Reader information service cards (“bingo cards”) have been used by magazines as a positive sales tool and by advertisers to generate large numbers of prospects. A study was conducted in four stages to determine the frequency of bingo card use among consumer magazines, fulfillment performance related to information requests, and policies and opinions of advertisers and magazines regarding bingo cards. Less than 8% of all consumer magazines include bingo cards. Advertisers’ response to requests for information via bingo cards tends to be very slow, if they respond at all. Yet survey results indicate that both magazines and advertisers tend to view bingo cards quite positively.