Abstract:

This paper begins with a discussion of the aspects of The Economist's editorial and circulation which led to the commissioning of this research, together with a general background describing the publication and the information that was available from previous research. The discussion covers the difficulties inherent in defining target market segments and in advertising to reach minority populations. It also discusses the need to consider different 'types' of readers as discrete populations. The paper goes on to examine in detail the specific questions which the research was designed to answer, and gives a brief summary of the sampling techniques and problems. The most important findings are discussed, and the focus is, in particular, on the use of multivariate analysis techniques to define potential markets for The Economist.