Wenner Media Contributes 2.3 Million Names to Co-op Database
Wenner Media, publisher of Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Men’s Journal, will contribute its subscriber files to Experian’s CircBase cooperative database, in its first use of co-op files in several years.
The publishing firm is returning to the co-op database world because it is planning to significantly increase its use of prospecting letters after several years of declining direct mail activity.
In the past, the company had participated in Experian and Abacus’ databases, but had dropped out of both.
The three lists contain 2.3 million names, with 1.1 million sourced from Rolling Stone, 650,000 being contributed by Us Weekly and the remainder from Mens’ Journal.
Mike Sheehy, Wenner subscription marketing and planning director, did not offer specific quantities of direct mail.
Sheehy claimed that the markets for each of the publications were different enough that duplication would be minimal.
He said Wenner decided not to go back into Abacus this go-round. “To a large extent their services duplicate each other, and we think we’re going to get everything we need from Experian,” Sheehy said.
Experian’s CircBase contains information on more than 63 million active and lapsed subscribers. The database is augmented with demographic information, as well as transaction data from Experian’s Z-24 cooperative catalog file.
