Whose stat are you blindly quoting?
Jeremy Zuleger
Marketing Strategist | Sales Trainer | Storyteller | Broadcast, Digital, Social Media | Event Director
This morning I came across a surprising headline on LinkedIn. At first glance, it stated everything you know about millennial's media consumption is wrong... More of them get their news from a newspaper than from a tablet! As a 15-year media rep who has sold radio, TV and digital my curiosity was peaked as my experience (and common sense) would tell me this is patently false. So I clicked and read the article (linked below). The article quotes impressive and surprising stats about media usage, however with a minimum amount of effort to fact check them I found some glaring inaccuracies.
This article is sourcing several stats from a MediaLife article (others are completely unsourced). I read the MediaLife article. The stats they are presenting did not come from their own research but were also sourced, this time from a Jacobs Media Survey. So I read the Jacobs Media Survey. Many of the stats are misrepresented and some of them are flat out wrong.
The Jacobs survey is ambiguous in and of itself. It’s a mixed message discussing both misconceptions about millennials based on stereotypes and the need to have emerging strategies for millennials over boomers. Parts of the study are interesting and amusing. I particularly like a reference to a Chevy ad where a group of millennials get upset because they are stereotyped as tattooed, bearded or wannabe hipsters. In an ironic comic twist by the commercial's producers, everyone in the ad getting upset by the stereotype is tattooed, bearded or a wannabe hipster. But the biggest problem I found came in the stat section. The data, which in turn fueled the 2 other articles who sourced it, comes from a comparison between Boomers and Gen Y. Gen Y is typically known at the small cross over demo between Gen X and millennials, born between 1977 and 1983. Gen X is 1966 to 1976 and millennials were born from 1984 to 1999. There is a BIG difference between Gen Y and millennials (I should know, I belong to Gen Y). That point is illustrated (literally) in the stat section where they chose a drawing of Jack White as the icon for Gen Y. I don’t think I’d consider the White Stripes or Raconteurs as having a huge millennial following. Bob Dylan was used to represent Boomers. I'll buy that, although while this statement has no hard data to back it up, I'd be willing to wager more millennials prefer the music of Dylan to Jack White.
Lastly, it is always wise to question the accuracy of the data being presented when you don't know the methodology. The data comes from a Public Radio TechSurvey but there is no mention to how many people were surveyed, their income levels, genders, geography and a host of other demographic info you would want to know. Plus it is important to note it is a Jacobs Media survey done FOR radio stations. It is going to make radio look good. Remember all numbers, no matter what they say, can be read in a variety of ways.
The moral if the story is, check your stats before posting them. It will help you be better informed and give you more credibility when presenting your arguments.
If you want to follow the chain of stat quotes:
The article that started it all is here.
Programming consultant, audience development, franchise & license acquisitions in media, streaming, live events, merchandising, executive producer, promoter and distribution.
8 年This is simply called lying with statistics. It's been done since the beginning of time, as long as it wins your grant.
The problem of our time is not lack of information, but making sense of the information that we see, hear, and read. It is a pet peeve of mine that people will post and re-post information (usually supporting their stance on a topic) without taking one moment to actually fact check it. sad.