PERSONAL FINANCE AUDIENCE STUDY
Fairfax Media conducted a personal finance audience study to help uncover our audiences' involvement in and attitudes towards personal finance; to profile the education and decision making stages of the consumer journey; and to help understand how audiences use Fairfax Media's finance brands to assist them in the personal finance consumer journey.
The research found that:
- Finance sections of Fairfax Media mastheads are highly influential on the purchase and readership of masthead titles, with up to 68% of readers agreeing that they are influential on purchase of that title.
- While three-quarters of Fairfax Media audiences have some kind of investment, mainly local shares, Smart Money and Smart Investor audiences are more willing to take risks with their investments and most open to unknown or unconventional products such as bonds, overseas shares or ETFs.
- Fairfax Media’s finance audiences take active steps in ensuring their families financial well-being. This sense of responsibility translates into a strong belief that it is important to keep in touch with financial affairs.
- Irrespective of confidence levels of financial matters, research is sought by all finance audiences, although it becomes more prominent among audiences who have higher risk investments. Newspapers are viewed as the most trusted source, above financial advisers, by all finance audiences when making personal finance decisions.
- Fairfax Media’s finance audiences are most likely to spend their disposable income on entertainment and leisure, put it into savings, or spend it on travel.