Daily Research News Online no. 2462 - Lives Of The European Elite

Lives Of The European Elite

July 4 2003

Ipsos-RSL has released data from Europe 2003, the fourth wave of its annual survey of 'top' Europeans for pan-European media planning. The results give a picture of an elite 4% (10.4m) of Europeans including insight into their outlook and attitudes, alongside their media consumption and lifestyle.

The survey measures readership, TV viewing, web site use, consumer and business behaviour and attitudes. To qualify, respondents must be least 25 years old, work at least 15 hours per week, in an executive or professional occupation, and satisfy one of the following:

have a personal income in the top 5% in each country
have been on at least six international business trips in the past year or
be a director of a company with at least 25 employees.

This year the results feature for the first time an attitudinal segmentation of seven distinct groups among Europe's elite:

Cluster	Key Descriptors
Established Achievers	Money driven, principled, prudent, self-assured
Enlightened Drivers	Confident, motivated, stylish, energetic
Open-minded Traditionalists	Principled, internationally aware, prudent
Balanced Independents	Independent, rational, strong willed
Natural Followers	Easy going, modest
Focused Technophiles	Technophiles, cutting edge, e-enthusiasts
Contented Conservatives	Traditional, reserved, reticent, unconvinced

The broad variety of people covered can also be seen in their agreement with statements made in the survey. Fully 61% consider themselves 'a citizen of Europe, not just my own country or any specific country' but there are a notable 23% who do not agree that 'Having an international perspective on current affairs is important to me'. About half (51%) 'try to avoid buying genetically modified food' whilst only 43% consider themselves to be 'not afraid of taking business risks'. Around two thirds (65%) - only? - agree that 'I make sure that work does not prevent me from spending time with friends and family'.

Average personal income for the group is c.80k Euros pa, average personal investments are c. 350k Euros and more than a third own a second home. Predictably, nearly all have Internet access, but pan-European TV channels also reach the majority of them each week (6.4million or 61%) and almost three quarters each month. CNN and Eurosport get the highest reach among the specific services covered, with 45.1 and 39.3% respectively. Despite recent reports on DRNO and elsewhere about the rise and rise of online banking, only 28% of these high fliers currently use it.

According to Roger Gane, Managing Director of Ipsos-RSL, ' The Europe 2000 series continues to enhance our understanding of this complex market and the survey's evolution will assist planners to refine their strategies in order to communicate even more effectively to this target'.

Average Issue Readership of Internationals

Title	Average Issue Readership
Base:		10.4m
	000s	%

Dailies:
Financial Times	689	6.6
International Herald Tribune	166	1.6
USA Today	149	1.4
Wall Street Journal Europe	134	1.3

Weeklies:
Time	568	5.5
The Economist	474	4.6
Newsweek	335	3.2
BusinessWeek	223	2.1

Fortune	207	2.0
Forbes	137	1.3

Monthlies:
National Geographic	801	7.7
Harvard Business Review	281	2.7
Scientific American	248	2.4
Euromoney	106	1.0
Institutional Investor	44	0.4

All Internationals	2,563	24.6

TV Data

The TV questionnaire was altered for Europe 2003, therefore the Europe 2003 TV figures must not be compared with those from previous years.

Channel	Weekly Reach		Monthly Reach

	000s	%	000s	%

PETV Channels	6,384	61.4	7,677	73.8
PETV News Channels	4,513	43.4	6,181	59.4
CNN	3,106	29.9	4,697	45.1
Eurosport	2,854	27.4	4,086	39.3
MTV	2,206	21.2	3,107	29.9
EuroNews	1,975	19.0	2,982	28.7
Discovery	1,745	16.8	2,500	24.0
BBC World	1,577	15.2	2,732	26.3
National Geographic	1,236	11.9	2,069	19.9
TV5	1,123	10.8	1,769	17.0
CNBC	1,029	9.9	1,851	17.8
Bloomberg	777	7.5	1,184	11.4

Consumer and Business Profile:

Average personal annual income (euros)	79,800
Average value of personal investments (euros)	352,000

Have three or more cars in household (%)	20%

Spend 15 or more nights in a hotel in past 12 months on business (%)	29%
6+ international business air trips in past 12 months (%)	16%

Internet access/connection (%)	96%
Banking online	28%
Share dealing online	10%

Director (%)	34%
Average value of business purchases ($US)	184,000

Media sponsors of Europe 2003 are BBC World, BusinessWeek, CNN, The Economist, the Financial Times, Fortune, International Herald Tribune, National Geographic, Newsweek and Time. Media Agency sponsors are Carat International, Delphys, Initiative Media, Media Planning Group, MediaCom, Mediaedge:cia, Mindshare, OMD, PHD, Starcom Mediavest, Universal McCann, Zenith Optimedia.

Nearly 300,000 households across 16 European countries were screened by telephone to find eligible individuals. A telephone interview was conducted for TV viewing and a postal self completion questionnaire for all other data. The data is then fused to form a complete data set for the 10,573 survey respondents.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.