Firm Reports on Business Journalism Reader Trends

Apparently, business readers are increasingly wealthy and wise.

They make upwards of $100,000 in annual income. They have framed at least one academic degree in homes worth half a million dollars. They even own a Jaguar. And they regularly read the business section of their daily newspapers, according to a recent media survey of 87 metro markets.

So says one-quarter of the surveyed population, or 36 million of 137 million adults, reports International Demographics Inc., a Houston-based market research firm that conducts The Media Audit.

The percentages of regular business readers ranged from 20 percent to 36 percent of each metro market, according to the study.

And those business readers tend toward affluence. Nearly one in 10 brings home at least $150,000 in household income each year. Twenty-two percent make $100,000 or more, and 35 percent have just as much locked away in savings. A full 16 percent have more than $250,000 in liquid assets, which is almost double the index of other populations who can boast having that amount. More often than other readers, business readers own homes whose value tops $500,000.

Plus, nearly half -- 48 percent -- of those readers have earned one or more academic degrees, compared to 35 percent of the total population.

That combination makes them "a significant influence on the buying habits of others," says Bob Jordan, president of International Demographics.

They're also skewing away from the stereotypical "old boys' network" that seem to dominate descriptions of business readers. More than 42 percent of the regular business readers are female, and 58 percent are younger than 55 years.

And forget cigars and three-martini lunches. Business readers are more likely than others to drink wine on at least three of the last 14 days. The study needs no more proof of this group's prosperity than that.

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism