As tablets grow in popularity, publishers and marketers are rushing to exploit the expanding number of “eyeballs”. One recent advancement for advertisers comes from Mediaspace Solutions, a media management and advertising agency. It is called the Mediaspace Tablet Network™, a portal that provides placement within a network of over 160 publications.

Print and online publishers in the network include periodicals such as Time, Popular Mechanics, Better Homes and Gardens, and O (the Oprah Magazine). Daily publications include the New York Daily News, Wall Street Journal, Denver Post and USA Today.

Scott Jagodzinski, CEO of Mediaspace, believes the network will provide marketing efficiencies for both local and national advertisers. “Newspapers and magazines are adding tablet applications daily. This is a natural transition for their digital business to complement print. By adding the ability to plan and place tablet business, we can maximize our relationships with the publications to bring value to advertisers in both print and digital (spaces).”

Analysts at Forrester Research estimate there are already 26 million tablet users; that number is expected to grow to over 82 million by 2015. The surge in tablet use has prompted publishers and programmers alike to quickly gain an understanding of the tablet market. For example, in July 2011 Adobe Systems and Conde Nast rolled out a new set of audience metrics that measured cross-platform magazine readership – including Web viewing, digital editions received via email, smartphone applications, e-readers and tablets.

Recent polling suggests that tablet-based purchasing is catching up to traditional PC and laptop-based buying activity. Online Media Daily has reported that 63% of tablet users make purchases through their devices, while 83% of PC users buy through their computers. And the popularity numbers skew younger, as 80% of tablet users age 18 to 34 make purchases via their tablets, compared to 50% for those 35 to 54, and 43% for users aged 55 and over.

Furthermore, demographic breakdown show that target audiences for publications included in the aggregator are avid tablet users: 61% are male and 53% use newspaper and magazine apps. “We’ve watched the tablet space since its inception,” says Mediaspace Solutions Director of Project Development Amee Tomlinson, “and (we) have seen the trend for users to consume news more and more on their tablets. As the tablet space grows, advertisers in each category, from pharmaceuticals to retail to quick-serve restaurants, will be testing it for effectiveness.”

With so many publications available through the Mediaspace network, marketers should be able to increase agility with strategies such as audience buying and real time bidding.