Just ask Starch Reports, the respected measurement arm of GfK Custom Research responsible for tracking and measuring ad effectiveness. In a nutshell:

No surprise that powersports (consumer/enthusiast) media tends to fall in the high involvement category of readership. But just because readers are engaged with the magazine doesn’t mean advertisers can count on Pavlovian ad responses.

That’s because ad readership isn’t determined by high or low reader engagement. Effectiveness depends on eye-catching art, a direct message, easy to read copy – and forget about weird font interpretations. Those, it seems, only signal readers to move along, don’t stop here.

Readers most likely to look at (your) ads are also those who’ve already bought the product. And seeing the ad for a product already owned or used or experienced seems to validate their purchase decision. If the experience is a good one, those readers are much more likely to use the ads as a catalyst to share their experience with others. And that, advertisers, is a very good thing.

Bottom line? It’s probably not the media’s fault if your ads don’t pull. Skimp (or misinterpret) the creative content and bada-bing, you might as well burn offerings to the gods of ROI to create response.