British Business People as affluent as ever despite credit crunch
More British business people are earning six figure salaries despite the credit crunch and fears of a recession.160 The Ipsos British Business Survey (BBS) found that 14% of the business people surveyed now earn more than 163100,000, an increase from 9% in 2005.
Rising fuel costs and concerns over the environment has not reduced the reliance on business travel, with 2 in 3 business people saying that they travel more than or the same amount as they did two years ago.160 However, over half claim that they themselves, or their company make every effort to offset their carbon emissions.
The survey is the only one of its kind focusing exclusively on the buying power and media exposure of Britain's most influential business people. 160One major enhancement to the 2008 survey is a boost of C-Suite executives. This allows greater understanding of those at the pinnacle of British business and also ensures the survey remains a robust and reliable study of the media habits of British Business people.
Times Media first in total brand exposure
BBS now estimates the total weekly audience for news brands and, for the first time, planners now have the ability to plan and evaluate cross media schedules.160 Times Media have the highest weekly audience with 45% of British business people accessing one or more of The Times, Sunday Times or Times Online during the previous week.
The Times leads the race for the most read quality daily and The Sunday Times holds on to top spot as the favourite Sunday paper of British Business with 29%. The Economist remains British business men and women's favourite weekly, increasing its share from 8.3% to 10.7%.
Richard Silman, Chief Executive Officer of Ipsos MediaCT, said:
"Ipsos prides itself on the British Business Survey which has been running for 35 years and is strongly supported by media owners and agencies.160 BBS is the leading source for planning B2B advertising as it contains a wealth of media and marketing data on a high status audience with significant levels of responsibility and influence within the business world."
Andre McGarricle, Director of Research and Customer Insight for Guardian Media Group said:
"We are delighted that BBS is taking the lead and offering cross-media planning functionality for the first time. We hope others industry surveys follow suit and start to take this approach as standard."
Stuart McDonald, Head of Advertising Insight for News International, said:
"When it comes to business decisions, one of the easiest for us to make has been our continued association with the British Business Survey. 160The findings are a valuable part of our sales arguments to business clients in this country and overseas."
Anita Hague, Global Research Director for Financial Times, said:
"BBS is an invaluable planning tool for the Financial Times' sales and marketing teams when planning GB B2B campaigns. It is the leading survey at targeting Senior British business people and now, with an increased sample amongst the invaluable C-Suite audience, it enables the FT and our clients to target this vital group more effectively."
To find out more about the survey and to download the brochure and presentation160visit the BBS website
Technical Note
The BBS 2008 is the 17th survey in the series, which measures readership, TV viewing patterns, website use, consumer and business behaviour and attitudes of the UK's top 1.56 million professionals of management status and significant business responsibilities.160 The BBS survey information is collected through face-to-face screening of households and a self completion questionnaire which produced produces a successful 59% response rate.160 In addition, new for this year was a postal survey to c-suite executives using the same self completion questionnaire.160
The total number of interviews is 3,567 and the fieldwork was conducted between 29th October 2007 and 20th April 2008.160 For more information about the survey please e-mail [email protected].
