Press release: “The rich aren’t like you and me” – F Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald once famously said that ‘the rich aren’t like you and me.’ Findings from our latest Affluent Survey in Europe bear this remark out in several respects. Notably, they seem to be able to squeeze more hours into their days than exist! They work harder, play harder, they are heavier consumers of media, more frequent shoppers and still have time to travel the world – in style of course.

In our latest study, we compared the behaviour of the Affluent population (those aged 21-74 living in the top 20% of households by income) with the general population. We found that they are heavier media users and better customer prospects for almost everything we asked about.

These range from more obvious activities like international travel (they are more than four times as likely to take 6 or more international air trips a year than the average person) to the less obvious (the Affluent are almost twice as likely to use online dating sites…). They tend to be heavier users and consumers of many more products and services:  

         
Nathalie Sodeike, Director, Ipsos Audience Measurement Netherlands, ‘The Affluent have a different mindset to the rest of the population. They are not only more confident about their financial security (twice as confident as their benchmark counterparts) but also more positive, energetic and enthusiastic. They are people who believe life is for living to the max. This feeds through into their media usage. They are both heavier and more selective media consumers. They want their media ‘On Demand,’ whether it be catch-up TV, streaming on their mobile, reading a newspaper or listening to a podcast – the content needs to be available as and when they want it. They are almost 3 times as likely to access an international media brand, respecting the trusted editorial environment they offer (24% more trusted than social media).’

On June 17th, Affluent Intelligence will release the 24th annual edition of the European Affluent Survey. The Ipsos Affluent survey measures the media and marketing behaviour of Europe’s most Affluent and Influential consumers across 21 countries.  The survey is constantly evolving, the survey measures how the Affluent engage with media across all platforms this latest release includes and added focus on podcasts.

Podcasts the ultimate ‘OnDemand’ content delivery 

To keep up with their busy lifestyles The European Affluent are the ultimate multi-taskers and Podcasts are the latest ‘on demand’ format, offering the ability to listen to exactly what you want when it is most convenient i.e. when travelling. The Affluent survey has seen penetration of daily listening to podcast almost double in the last 2 years from 4% in 2017 to 7% in 2019.  While Americans have led the way with podcast adoption, the Swedes are Europe’s leaders, with 16% listening to a podcast on a daily basis compared to just 2.5% in Belgium.

A person’s wealth and the frequency of international air trips has a direct correlation with listening to podcasts, individuals with a personal income of €100,000+ or those who take 6+ international air trips are twice as likely to listen than an average Affluent respondent. (Index 205 and 191 respectively)

Podcasts are definitely not just for millennials 

Podcast listening growth is not a millennial only phenomenon, the more mature 35-44’s are keeping pace with this trend, although there is a significant drop off at 55.

Listened to a Podcast yesterday – by age

Source: Affluent Europe 2019 (21 countries)

About the Affluent Survey

In 1995 the Ipsos Affluent Survey Europe (formerly EMS) was designed to expand the Pan European Media market and to allow comparative analyses on a national and multinational basis.  The Ipsos Affluent Survey Europe contained significantly more detailed demographic, classification and marketing than any other survey available at the time or indeed now.

The Affluent Survey Europe is part of the Ipsos suite of Affluent surveys which now covers Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia/Pacific and the USA, spanning 47 countries and reflecting approximately 145 million adults.  Since its first launch, the Ipsos Affluent Survey Europe had continually evolved and enhanced its methodology.  Ipsos interviewed 28,353 Europeans across 21 countries in 2018, each of whom was screened to ensure they were the main income earner and passed minimum household income thresholds established as represent the Top 20% of the population.

About the Affluent Benchmark Survey

2019 is the first year that The Affluent Benchmark Survey was conducted to compare, contrast and better understand what makes the Affluent population different from the wider adult population.  Conducted in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK and Switzerland among adults aged 21 – 74.  

For the purposes of this analysis only the countries included in the Benchmark survey are being evaluated.  

The total universe of adults within the 6 Benchmark Countries is 236 million of which 35 million classify as Affluent and 201 million who are non-Affluent.

Download the slides of the webinar that was held on 17 June 2019 here and watch the recording below:.