As promised, here are the results of the survey we did on Monday.
Thank you again to everyone who participated in this survey: Over 2000 of you responded, and the results are quite intriguing. Kudos to Survey Gizmo for putting together a nice product — very simple and easy to use. (I am sure I could have done a better job if I actually read the instructions)
In many cases, I did not show the full set of answers — too many one offs to fit neatly on a web page . . . but where possible, I gave the top few answers, down to ~1%.
When someone asked me "Who are your readers," I could only answer in the most general of terms. Michelle over at Footnoted suggested doing a survey, and hence, here we are.
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This was quite an interesting experiment; Please feel free to make suggestions for other ideas/questions/quiz ideas/concepts in the comments.
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Long ass page continues after the jump . . .
Report: Final Summary Report
Survey: Big Picture Reader Survey Compiled: 10/30/2007
1. How frequently do you read The Big Picture?
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | 1484 | 72% |
| Several times per week | 518 | 25% |
| Once a week | 43 | 2% |
| Less frequently | 24 | 1% |
2. How do you access The Big Picture?
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| Directly from the site | 1743 | 84% |
| via RSS feed/news aggregator | 247 | 12% |
| Calculated Risk:Other | 8 | 0% |
| 6 | 0% | |
| Real Money | 4 | 0% |
| Other:Other | 3 | 0% |
| cunning realist:Other | 2 | 0% |
| calculatedrisk:Other | 2 | 0% |
| ml-implode:Other | 2 | 0% |
3. What time of day do you generally check the site?
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| During U.S. market hours | 1254 | 61% |
| Later in the evening | 312 | 15% |
| Pre-market | 260 | 13% |
| After the U.S. close | 224 | 11% |
4. What are your primary reasons for using The Big Picture?
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| Macro-economic commentary | 1181 | 57% |
| General financial education | 603 | 29% |
| Get investing ideas | 93 | 5% |
| Monitor risk for specific stocks or sectors | 69 | 3% |
| Entertainment / gossip | 29 | 1% |
| all of the above:Other | 15 | 1% |
| Participate in comments discussions | 6 | 0% |
5. Have you ever made an investment decision based on anything you’ve read on The Big Picture?
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| No | 1493 | 73% |
| Yes | 559 | 27% |
6. Which of the following changes/additions to the site would you most like to see?
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| More Macro-economic commentary | 569 | 30% |
| None of the above | 412 | 22% |
| More Market specific commentary | 271 | 14% |
| More company/sector specific discussions | 219 | 12% |
| Site updated more frequently with shorter posts | 177 | 9% |
| Less frequent but more detailed posts | 121 | 6% |
| More entertainment features like Friday Night Jazz | 22 | 1% |
| H:Other | 6 | 0% |
Considering all of the financial information you read, what percentage comes from each of the following sources?
Please enter the percentages (up to 100%) that indicate how you use your annual research budget:
| Item | Low | High | # Responses | Line Average | Overall Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily newspapers (WSJ, NYT) | 0 | 100 | 1514 | 22.10 | 17.9 |
| Business magazines (e.g. Barron’s, Fortune) | 0 | 100 | 1256 | 13.13 | 8.8 |
| Financial websites (Marketwatch, TheStreet.com) | 0 | 100 | 1508 | 25.26 | 20.4 |
| Financial blogs | 0 | 100 | 1682 | 33.82 | 30.4 |
| Proprietary / subscription based service (e.g. Bloomberg) | 0 | 100 | 868 | 23.52 | 10.9 |
| Radio / TV | 0 | 100 | 912 | 12.48 | 6.1 |
| Other | 0 | 100 | 491 | 17.68 | 4.6 |
7. How would you compare The Big Picture with other financial blogs you read on a regular basis?
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| Much better | 1145 | 58% |
| A little better | 554 | 28% |
| About the same | 220 | 11% |
| Not quite as good | 38 | 2% |
| Not nearly as good | 1 | 0% |
8. Is your profession directly related to money management or
financial oversight?
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| No | 1308 | 67% |
| Yes | 658 | 33% |
9. Which of the following best describes your profession?
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| Individual Investor | 566 | 34% |
| Analyst/Strategist/Economist | 174 | 10% |
| Fund/Money Manager | 140 | 8% |
| Trader | 132 | 8% |
| H:Other | 110 | 7% |
| Financial advisor/broker | 102 | 6% |
| CPA/Attorney | 85 | 5% |
| CEO, CFO or other corporate officer | 67 | 4% |
| engineer:Other | 38 | 2% |
| IT:Other | 17 | 1% |
10. What other subscription-based services do you currently subscribe to?
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| WSJ | 393 | 29% |
| Investment newsletters | 195 | 14% |
| Bloomberg | 162 | 12% |
| NYT | 130 | 10% |
| none:Other | 93 | 7% |
| Real Money/TheStreet.com | 66 | 5% |
| Other | 61 | 4% |
| Morningstar | 52 | 4% |
| Thomson/Reuters | 30 | 2% |
| IBD: | 15 | 1% |
| Barrons | 15 | 1% |
| The Economist | 9 | 1% |
| F | 7 | 1% |
| Financial Times:Other | 7 | 1% |
| All of the above:Other | 6 | 0% |
11. In terms of investable assets, I control or provide advice for
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| Under $250,000 | 694 | 39% |
| Under $1 million | 439 | 25% |
| Over $10 million | 298 | 17% |
| $1 million to $5 million | 290 | 16% |
| $5 million to $10 million | 57 | 3% |
12. Do you reside in …
| Value | Count | Percent % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 1691 | 86% |
| Europe | 109 | 6% |
| Canada | 88 | 4% |
| Asia | 26 | 1% |
| Australia:Other | 10 | 1% |
The most interesting item in this survey is the extremely low number of subsribers to the WSJ. Given the interests and professions of the survey population I would have expected something closer to an 80% subscription rate, certainly above 60%. I believe that would have been true in the past.
Fully 57% of Barry’s audience value TBP for insights on macro-economic trends. Isn’t his something the WSJ used to be counted on to provide? What happened? Is the Journal’s time past? Would Murdoch be better off cancelling his purchase of the WSJ and buying into THE BIG PICTURE instead?
Interesting that both financial blogs and financial websites rank higher than daily newspapers in terms of sources of financial info. I would have guessed that WSJ was far and away the #1 source.
while the WSJ is no beacon of light in a sea of darkness…..the acqusition by “Rupert” will have had the effect of keeping alot of readers looking for something else.
We have’nt seen the Page 3 girl in the WSJ yet???-LOL
With the “story’ about Cayne and his alledged pot smoking (seems you can lie, cheat, be dishonest, not show up for work, play golf when your fifedom is cracking BUT YOU CANNOT SMOKE A JOINT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES)
Are they just pissed that is was’nt Coke???
Ciao
MS
The journal has zero creditability with Rupert at the helm. It used to be mostly a garden for planted stories with occasional useful articles, now it’s just full of manure.
My worst fear is that the Big Picture becomes a victim of its own success. Find a way to stay hungry.
It would be interesting to see how the reader type breaksdown depending on its nationality (IMHO).
It would be interesting to see how the reader type breaksdown depending on its nationality (IMHO).
It would be interesting to see how the reader type breaksdown depending on its nationality (IMHO).
Some of the results may be slightly off since (at least for me) there was no way to select multiple items, so WSJ readership may be higher, but just not tracked since they selected another option.
Agree with Charles – I use many different subscription sources frequently, but could only choose one.
I’m surprised not more people made investment decisions based on their readings of TBP: surely part of their investment decisions are based on macro outlook, and 57% of those surveyed read TBP for its macro commentary. Could be logical fallacy on my part.
The question “ever invested based on the TBP” was too dry cut. It should be “how TBP influences your investment decisions”: none, a little, some, a lot, totally dominates.
I said no, though sometimes the sentiment (both article and discussion) have some weight on a decision to get/stay long/short/out.
survey needs to be redone with check boxes instead of radio buttons.
in other words, we need to be able to select multiple choices instead of just limited to one
WSJ costs money, TBP is free. Better product for free = lots of readers.
I imagine consideration will be given to the fact that all of those participants in the survey are TBP readers AND financial blog readers to some degree…
I find the 30% research “allocation” to reading blogs is interesting, especially since blogs are primarily opinion and ego-driven, which makes for considerable more “noise” to filter. I follow about 5 blogs (not including my own) and only two are financial. I wonder how many blogs the typical blog-reader follows? 10? 20? 50?
Personally, I completed the survey because TBP is among the “best of the best” financial blogs out there; however (Barry, you know what I’m talking about here) I believe Simon’s “poverty of attention” is truly a factor like never before…
I’m a somewhat typical blog reader, and I read 10 – 20 blogs a day, with better than half of them related to things political. But TBP is the first of the financial places I stop… The best of the best, no doubt.
I missed the survey but agree that you are polling bloggers so…..kind of skewed info. Good info no less.
I am from a much different field and use blogs to learn and get a better picture that is not spun golden. Sure a blog can be spun but i’ve gotten good at sniffing out the trolls.
I do believe this is the new medium but I’m sure the wallstreet pigs will figure out how to skew the info in their favor.
Scary today how the market is looking like it finally gets it. Looks like a lack of trust? Uh Oh!
Good job, Barry, and keep it up!
Look out below- market will slide:
First it was just housing in trouble, then housing n Finance; then housing finance and Retail, Then add energy, n materials sectors.
The Technical trend is down (cf. RSI, Slow Stoch, DMI)> Be careful out there people!
Well, the results are a bit skewed, I would think, towards the blog readers vs the dead tree readers because of the location of the survey – online vs an in-person sampling at some business/investing venue. That’s fine, just be aware of it when looking at the results.
If you really want to kill a night/weekend looking at financial blogs, start at Trader Mike’s site and click on the “Blogs I read” section. Fantastic. Prepare to have your dinner delivered tonight. :)
http://tradermike.net/
A client offered me a ticket to Learning Annex Wealth Expo. I attended FengShui/theSecret, Prop Tax Sales, Gov Grants.
Most interesting show of hands (gov grants) (5:1 to 4:1 ratio) – small business owners in room : small business owners with employees. I’m in the majority.
Endeavoring hands help TBP.