Evaluation of the Demographics of the Subscribers of Young Professional Magazine - Statistics Project Example

Introduction This was an opportunity to evaluate the demographics of the subscribers of Young Professional magazine and to recommend companies that would be ideal for advertising in the magazine based upon the average age of Young Professional magazine readers, whether the readers have children, if they have fast internet connections, household income among other considerations. The evaluation was based on a sample of 410 recent graduates. Report Table 1: Descriptive Statistics for AGE Gender Mean N Std. Deviation Female 30.35 181 3.862 Male 29.93 229 4.146 Total 30.11 410 4.024 A total of 410 participants (recent college graduates) took part in this survey study. Of the 410, 181 (44.1%) were females while the remaining 229 (55.9%) were males. The mean age of the female participants was 30.35 with a standard deviation of 3.86. On the other hand, the mean age of the male participants was 29.93 with a standard deviation of 4.15. Overall, the sample mean was 30.11 with a standard deviation of 4.02. Table 2: Descriptive Statistics for Stock/Bond/Mutual Fund Transactions Made Last Year Gender Mean N Std. Deviation Female 6.04 181 3.289 Male 5.92 229 2.950 Total 5.97 410 3.101 On average, both females and males made 6 stock/bond/mutual fund transactions last year although the variation in the number of stock/bond/mutual fund transactions made last year was bigger for females than for males (3.29 compared to 2.95). Table 3: Descriptive Statistics for Total Household Income Last Year Gender Mean N Std. Deviation Female 72846.96 181 37772.997 Male 75734.06 229 32320.174 Total 74459.51 410 34818.211 On average, males made a total of $75,734 household income last year with a standard deviation of $32,320.174. Females on the other hand made $72,846.96 with a standard deviation of $37,772.997. Overall, the average household earnings stood at $74,459.51 with a standard deviation of $34,818.211. The 95% confidence interval of age lies between; X-Zα/2(S/n1/2) and X + Zα/2(S/n1/2) X = 30.11, Zα/2 = 1.96, S = 4.024 and n1/2 = 20.25 29.72 and 30.50 From our sample size of 410, the average age of subscribers of Young Professional magazine is 30.11 give or take 4.02. If I were to take samples over and over again about 95% of the time, it appears that the average age of readers can be expected to be between 29.72 and 30.49. Based upon the age of subscribers, advertisements in Young Professional magazine should be geared towards thirty year old adults with not much advertisement geared towards people that are significantly older or younger than 30. Based upon the standard deviation of 4.02, the target range of advertisements can be expanded to include adults between the ages of 26 and 34, but the majority of the advertisements should target 30 year old adults. Companies that would be ideal for advertising in the magazine based upon the average age of 30 include: beer companies such as Budweiser and Miller Brewing Company, clothing companies such as Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs, online investment firms such as E-Trade and Scottrade, restaurants/bars such as Bar Louie and the Cheesecake Factory, computer companies such as Apple and Dell, online shopping websites such as Amazon and E-bay, etc The 95% confidence interval of household income lies between; X-Zα/2(S/n1/2) and X + Zα/2(S/n1/2) X = $74,459.51, Zα/2 = 1.96, S = $34,818.211 and n1/2 = 20.25 $71,079.26 and $77,839.77 From the confidence interval of age, then advertisements should be geared to meet the interests of those earning between $71,079.26 and $77,839.77 since most of the recent graduates have earnings in this range. Table 4: Frequency of Recent Graduates with High Speed Internet at Home Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid No 154 37.6 37.6 37.6 Yes 256 62.4 62.4 100.0 Total 410 100.0 100.0 The proportion of those with high speed internet connections at home; P = 62.4/100 P = 0.624 And 1-P = 0.376 The 95% confidence interval of proportion of recent graduate with high speed internet connections at home lies between; P-Zα/2[(P(P-1)/n)]1/2 and P + Zα/2[(P(P-1)/n)]1/2 P = .624 P-1 = .376, Zα/2 = 1.96, and n = 410 0.6 and 0.65 Taking a sample over and over again, a sample proportion with fast internet connections will be between 0.6 (60%) and 0.65 (65%) and adverts for computer companies such as Apple and Dell, online shopping websites such as Amazon and E-bay, etc will be more appropriate. Table 5: Recent Graduates with Children Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid No 191 46.6 46.6 46.6 Yes 219 53.4 53.4 100.0 Total 410 100.0 100.0 The proportion of those with children; P = 53.4/100 P = 0.534 And 1-P = 0.466 The 95% confidence interval of proportion of recent graduate with children lies between; P-Zα/2[(P(P-1)/n)]1/2 and P + Zα/2[(P(P-1)/n)]1/2 P = .534 P-1 = .466, Zα/2 = 1.96, and n = 410 0.51 and 0.56 From the confidence interval of the proportion of recent graduates with children then advertisements with children matters need to be prepared since most of the recent graduates have children in addition to high speed internet connections at home. Conclusions Based upon the data given, the typical subscriber of Young Professional magazine is 30 years old with a household income of $75,000 and high speed internet access. It must be noted that this is a generalization and does not encapsulate all of the magazine’s subscribers; therefore, there are other factors that the magazine should consider including: 44% of readers are female and 56% of readers are male; also, 53% of readers have children. Although these statistics are important, they are not large enough that they should cause the magazine and advertisers to target only the majority groups in these two categories (males/people with children) because it will alienate the people in the minority (females/people without children). Young Professional magazine would be a great advertising outlet for online brokers in particular. The reasons for this are three-fold. First, the average age of the subscribers is 30, which means that these people grew up in the age of computers and information technology. Second, 62% of readers have high speed internet access, which means they could easily access the websites of the online brokers. Third, the financial portfolio of the subscribers is above average with average annual totals of: household income of about $75,000, about $28,500 of investments, and 6 stock/bond/mutual fund transactions. Based upon this data, Young Professional magazine is the ideal place for advertising for online brokers such as E-Trade and Scottrade. Companies selling educational software and computer games for young children would undoubtedly find a market for their products in Young Professional magazine (53% of subscribers have children, annual household income averages $75,000), however, a partnership with a company advertising children’s software is not ideal for Young Professional magazine. The reasons for this are two-fold. First, only half of the readers of the magazine have children, which mean that these ads would be only targeting half of the readers and alienating the other half. Second, children-specific advertisements in the magazine might give other advertisers the wrong impression about the magazine (appearing to be for young adults with families rather than young adults with careers), which might deter certain potential advertising clients (alcoholic beverage companies, online brokers, etc.) from advertising in the magazine. Furthermore, the presence of children’s software advertisements may also give potential readers the same wrong impression about the magazine, which may inhibit the readership growth of the magazine. Therefore, it is our recommendation that Young Professional magazine to refrain from having children’s software companies advertise in the magazine. As mentioned above, it would be ideal for companies that sell both adult and children’s products (possibly a company selling both adult and children’s software) in order to incorporate as many readers as possible and avoid alienating readers. As the name of the magazine implies, Young Professional magazine should write articles that relate to young people with careers. Our research has confirmed that the readership of the magazine is exactly that: young professionals (age: 30; income: $75,000; investments: $28,500; etc.) Based upon these numbers, Young Professional should provide articles for its readers including but not limited to: career development/advancement, investment advice, business (both national and international), stock market news, and possibly life advice/plans for 30ish year old people. If Young Professional magazine follows these recommendations, the magazine will be able to successfully increase both its readership and its advertising base. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to evaluate the demographics of the subscribers of Young Professional magazine. Read More