(By Charlie Sislen) My last few posts have focused on TV viewership and examining who is really watching. Utilizing Scarborough’s Media Heaviness reports can help outline the fact that a very small segment of the population consumes the vast majority of TV. However, while extremely effective, the concept is often difficult to work with.
The good news is that there is a simpler category in your qualitative research that can provide the information you need – Quintile Analysis. No, quintiles are not a mathematical model that you need to be a PhD to understand. Instead, it ranks all users of a certain medium (i.e., TV viewership or radio listening) and then segments them into fifths.
* Quintile 1 – The 20% of the population that are the heaviest users
* Quintile 5 – The 20% of the population that are the lightest users
In the world of television viewing, does quintile 1 differ from quintile 5? YES. In many aspects, the 20% of the population who are heavy TV viewers are very different demographically than the 20% who watch little or no TV. More importantly, they consume different products and services.
Notice the example below. While both Quintile 1 (heaviest TV viewers) and Quintile 5 (lightest TV viewers) are about the same size, Quintile 1 is mostly Adults 50+ while Quintile 5 is dominated by Adults 18-44.
Imagine doing the same comparison on a product category such as auto intenders.
Clearly those who are looking to purchase a car (new, used, or lease) are significantly more likely to be light TV viewers (Qunitle 5). Imagine showing that to a car dealer who is spending a bulk of their traditional media budget on television. Chances are they are spending a disproportionate percentage on reaching people who are not in their target market.
This naturally leads to the question: How do Qunitile 1 TV viewers compare with Quntile 1 radio listeners? We call that a tease as that is the subject of my next post.
Need help understanding how to use this valuable data and convert it into sales? Feel free to contact me.
Charlie Sislen is a partner at Research Director, Inc. He can be reached at 410-956-0363 or by e-mail at [email protected]. This post is part of a series titled “Growing the Radio Pie.” To view past articles, visit The Ratings Experts at Research Director, Inc. online here.
