Are headlines about lists superior in print as they are in web content?

A common tactic for capturing attention is using a headline

N something for something

For example on Copyblogger some headlines:

• 10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work
• The 5 Things Every (Great) Marketing Story Needs
• 7 Scientifically-Backed Copywriting Tips

Or here is a screenshot from a Google Search showing 5 of the top articles on this query all employed this tactic ("These five astonishing..." is spelled out but still counts)

Here's another one on page 1 (above it was some paid ads) again showing the exact same thing

Since What is still disputing and claiming its only for things that make good lists, here's a page 1 search of "Affordable Care Act" again a top result:

My question is - have any studies been done on print media to show the same tactic works? All I can think of is the "grocery store" mags will often have on the cover something like "10 ways to please your man" or "6 steps to rock hard abs" but I really have no idea if there's any data to support using this tactic in print?

Edit

Since it seems @What just thinks I'm making stuff up about this method being proven here's one of my articles you can find with data supporting it: http://moz.com/blog/5-data-insights-into-the-headlines-readers-click

The question is if there's any data to show it also works in print.

posted about 10 years ago

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Ryan‭

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