Which Media Draw the Youngest, Highest-Income and Most Diverse Audiences?

December 19, 2016

Marketers today are tasked with navigating an increasingly fragmented media landscape often cluttered with hype about the death of one medium and inexorable rise of another. MarketingCharts’ newest report – our 3rd annual 2016 edition of “US Media Audience Demographics” – provides marketers with crucial, high-quality data identifying the media channels that most appeal to various demographics groups.

The data-driven study – which acts as the second annual update to 2014’s popular inaugural report – sizes the relative audience of various major offline and online media types across age groups, household incomes, and races and ethnicities (Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black). It then delves into various sub-segments of these media, breaking down their demographic composition and offering cross-media comparisons.

Some of the highlights from the report include the following:

  • Terrestrial radio attracting more of a middle-aged audience than traditional TV and print;
  • More than 40% of the national newspaper audience coming from households with at least $100k in annual income, making this the medium with the strongest skew towards affluents among the traditional media types examined;
  • Among digital media, the online TV audience being the youngest of those analyzed, with internet radio holding the most appeal to Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks; and
  • Instagram drawing the youngest and most diverse (on a racial and ethnic basis) audience of the 5 leading social networks analyzed.

Beyond offering relative sizing data on media reach, the study dives into the demographic composition of audiences for:

  • TV (broadcast, cable, online viewers);
  • Radio (terrestrial, online listeners);
  • Newspapers (national, local, website visitors);
  • Magazines (monthly publications, website visitors); and
  • Five leading social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest).

Other topics answered by the report include the offline media that draw the youngest audience and the online and social media that have the most affluent skew.

The 56-page study is packed with 48 charts, including a series of cheat sheets providing quick media comparisons across demographic variables. It also comes with MarketingCharts’ value guarantee: if you don’t find the data useful, simply let us know and we’ll refund you your purchase.

Head on over here for your copy of the report.

About the Data: The media data (with the exception of social networks) is derived from Simmons Research’s Spring 2016 and Spring 2015 National Consumer Studies. The high quality, nationally representative study is the result of a comprehensive, continuously fielded survey of approximately 25,000 US adults, including both English and Spanish speakers. All data concerning offline media is from a base sample of US adults; data concerning online TV, internet radio, newspaper websites and magazine websites is drawn from a base sample of US online adults.

The social networking data is derived from comScore figures analyzing online US adults’ cross-platform activity in June 2016.

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