Audience As Product: Identifying Advertiser Preferences

Abstract

A conjoint analysis was conducted to examine audience traits valued by U.S. television advertisers to determine which traits played the greatest role in advertisers’ investment decisions. The advertiser was positioned as the consumer and the audience as product. Results from the conjoint experiment are compared and contrasted to an observational study that examined many of the same issues. Both studies found that household income plays a lesser role, while English proficiency is valued by all advertisers. The conjoint analysis also revealed that audience ethnicity plays a greater role than income or language. Benefits of the conjoint analysis approach are discussed.

Key Words:

• language
• ethnicity
• television
• audiences
• advertisers
• conjoint analysis