In this article, you will find a definition for each of the following metrics:
- Audience %
- Data point %
- Universe
- Index
- Responses
See here for an even deeper diver into all things percentages and indexes.
We are going to be using the below example:
Audience: Men, who have selected ‘Cooking’ (see below).
Market: UK
Waves: Q2, Q3, Q4 in 2023, Q1 2024
Attribute: Brand discovery
Audience %
The audience % tells you the proportion of your audience that matches with a given data point. It's calculated using the corresponding universe figures and shows an average across all selected markets and waves.
Example: 46% of men interested in cooking in the UK typically find out about new brands and products via search engines.
Data point %
The data point % tells you the contribution that your audience makes to a given data point. For instance, a data point % of 100 means that everyone who matches with that data point is included within your audience. It's calculated based on the universe sizes' figures and shows an average across all selected markets and waves.
More information on understanding percentages can be found here.
Example: 26.7% of UK internet users who typically find out about new brands and products via search engines are men interested in cooking.
Universe
The universe tells you how many real-world people are in a given group. Note that the universe shows an average across all selected waves.
There are an estimated 4.55 million male internet users in the UK interested in cooking who typically find out about new brands and products via search engines.
Index
The index tells you how much more or less likely your audience is to match with a given data point compared to the base audience.
The numerical distance from 100 shows the percentage difference compared to the base. For example, an index of 110 means that your audience is 10% more likely than the base audience to match with a given data point.
Unless you apply a more specific base audience, the base will be the total universe represented by the data set you're using. For example, if you're using GWI Core, the base audience will be internet users aged 16+. The index shows an average across all selected markets and waves.
Click here to find out more about the index and how it's calculated.
Example: Men interested in cooking in the UK are 21.3% more likely to find out about new brands and products via search engines than the average internet user in the UK.
Responses
The responses figure tells you how many people from our sample selected a given data point.
Note that the responses figure shows the aggregated total across all selected markets and waves.
Example:
We interviewed 3.95k male UK internet users interested in cooking who said they typically find out about new brands and products via search engines.
