MEDIA PERSPECTIVE: A bit of good news can raise interest in regional papers.

The ability of research companies to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds and acres of time in establishing the obvious surfaced once again last week. Millward Brown's regional press 'Conversion Study', a pounds 250,000 commission from the Newspaper Society, was billed as a weighty piece of work in the battle to increase regional press' share of the advertising cake.

Its value to the NS and regional publishing groups is undoubted, mainly because advertisers can't go to the lavatory these days before first reading exhaustive research to confirm that it is indeed the correct place to deposit a turd. However, I can't imagine that a single person in the land will be surprised by what it's turned up.

Millward Brown took 9,275 interviews to establish such insights as 'local press readers who are 'in the market' to make a purchase, actively seek information in the local press and are at the same time more alert to advertising messages' and 'local press is effective across all categories, from an FMCG brand launch to retail'.

Not earth shattering but the early signs are that the study will work for the NS, with Unilever and Johnson & Johnson already committed to spending more on the medium now they have the figures to prove that it's not a waste of money. But the obvious problem for regional press, now that it's up to speed in the pursuit of accountability, is that of perception. For some reason, tarts like me, and many in London ad and media agencies, would rather spend time ...