DMA's Analytics Council and Hearst Partner in Contest to Find Better Newsstand Sell-Through Model

October 1, 2010 —The Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Analytics Council and Hearst have announced that the two companies are partnering to sponsor the Hearst Analytic Challenge, a competition to build a model that better predicts a magazine’s sell-through rate, or the percentage of copies distributed to newsstands that end up being sold. The Hearst Challenge will also be the 2010 NCDM (National Center for Database Marketing) Analytics Challenge, an annual contest held by DMA. The winner, who will receive $25,000, will be announced at this year’s NCDM Conference in Miami, Fla., December 13-15. The contest will be open to the public.

Starting October 14, participants will have access to a historical sample of newsstand location draw, sales and associated location-level data from 10 publications (not identified) and 10,000 stores via the Hearst Challenge website. The goal will be to create an analytical framework that successfully predicts newsstand locations’ “response” and optimizes the overall contribution of the newsstand location. All entries must be received by December 3. The top three entrants will be invited to present their solution at the NCDM Conference. The contestant(s) who best predicts final store sales given the number of copies placed in each store will win.

“As an industry, we’ve been very successful at using data and algorithms to improve customer acquisition and renewal offers. Now we’d like to invite the best minds out there to use that same approach to make our newsstand strategy more efficient,” said TKTK, title, Hearst. “We’re very excited to partner with DMA’s Analytics Council and to host this contest and look forward to seeing the results and potentially applying them to our business.”

“The annual Analytics Challenge is one of the highlights of DMA’s Fall Conference and we are excited to bring the same level of excitement to the NCDM Conference,” said Lisa Merizio Smith, director, segment services, DMA. “We are thrilled to have Hearst as our 2010 co-sponsor and can’t wait to see what industry breakthroughs result from the collaboration.”

More details and full contest rules are available at http://hearstchallenge.com.

About Direct Marketing Association

The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 48 other nations, including nearly half of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit organizations.

In 2009, marketers – commercial and nonprofit – spent $149.3 billion on direct marketing, which accounted for 54.3 percent of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated approximately $1.783 trillion in incremental sales. In 2009, direct marketing accounted for 8.3 percent of total US gross domestic product. Also in 2009, there were 1.4 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly supported 8.4 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 9.9 million US jobs.

About Hearst Corporation

Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) is one of the nation’s largest diversified media companies. Its major interests include ownership of 15 daily and 38 weekly newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union; nearly 200 magazines around the world, including Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine; 29 television stations, which reach a combined 18 percent of US viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime, A&E, History and ESPN; as well as business publishing, including a minority joint venture interest in Fitch Ratings; Internet and marketing services businesses, television production, newspaper features distribution and real estate.

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