According to BIGresearch's most recent Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM) with over 15,000 respondents, December 2005, regular and occasional users of iPods have a definite profile that is quite counterintuitive.
They are predominantly male (64.4 percent); Married (46.1 percent); 18-44 years old; and have one to three years of college (30.5 percent) or a Bachelor's degree 20.6 percent. Predominantly, their occupation is professional/management (34.8 percent) and they have an average income of $67,854.
What do they like to do in their leisure time?
- Surf the internet: 75.8 percent
- Video gaming: 74.8 percent
- Listen to music: 74.8 percent
- Watch TV: 72.4 percent
Those iPod users who are planning on buying a car/truck in the next 6 months prefer Toyota 17.0 percent, Ford 16.8 percent, Honda 16.7 percent and Chevy 15.0 percent.
iPod users also love to watch movies (96.7 percent), police/detective shows (82.0 percent) and documentaries (87.0 percent).
Takeaway: iPods are a part of corporate American consumer's life, with music being an important ingredient of their daily life. Savvy automobile marketers should start targeting iPod users by sponsoring free downloads with a test drive. Could be worth a try for Ford and Chevy. The iPoders seem to be waiting.
More information on automotive purchase decisions: Word of mouth is the greatest influence on purchase decisions (38.3 percent), followed by TV/Broadcast (31.6 percent) and "Read an article on the product" (27.1 percent).
Additional resources
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Joe Pilotta is vice president of BIGresearch, and a professor at Ohio State University, School of Communications. He holds two Ph.D.s from Ohio University (Communication Research) and from University of Toronto (Sociology), Canada. He is a member of the Word of Mouth Association (WOMMA) Standards and Metric Committee and the ARF Long Term Advertising Effects Committee.
