Market segmentation – MetaFacts' TUP findings

November 15, 2019January 15, 2021

Game-Playing Trends – Convenience Gamers, Dedicated Gamers, and Device-Gamers [TUPdate]

Overview

Playing games is a regular activity for most adults whether using game consoles or gaming PCs, or any of their connected devices – mobile phones, tablets, or PCs.

Convenience Gamers – those using only a connected device to play games – has near-equal market penetration to Dedicated Gamers – users of game consoles or gaming PCs.

Device-Gamers – who use any of their connected devices – is a larger segment than either Dedicated Gamers or Convenience Gamers.

This TUPdate looks at the major trends of game-playing in the US and other countries, focusing on Convenience Gamers – the next tier of game-players beyond Dedicated Gamers. Also, it examines which types of devices are used the most or least for playing games. Further, it investigates whether younger adults play more or less than older ones, and differences in digital media use and subscriptions.

October 30, 2018December 15, 2020

Retro to the future? Turntable players as predictors [TUPdate]

Vinyl turntables?! Windows XP?! Basic cell phones?!

Is it true that users of older technology are uninterested in new technology? We tested that hypothesis using several indicators, and found that this stereotype is partly true, and partly not true. We’ve found an interesting group that spans the old and the new, and who are distinct from those who match the laggard stereotype.

Users of older technology are a substantial part of the marketplace. While some slog along with what they have, others eagerly anticipate and even create the future. More pedestrian ones hold on to what they have because they aren’t seeing the value in new technology products and services, or don’t have the means or motivation to do so.

Based on our most research results, from the MetaFacts Technology User Profile (TUP) 2018 wave, 18% of online adults globally use a basic feature phone and 4% use a turntable to play vinyl records. This is based on our balanced survey of 14,273 adults actively online using any PC, mobile phone, tablet, or game console.

Many types of older products are also in everyday use. One in eight (12%) of the primary PC being used by adults was acquired in 2013, two years before Windows 10 was released to the public. One in twelve online adults (8%) are using a printer as old, and one in sixteen (6%) are using a tablet also from 2013 or earlier.

Old-school isn’t necessarily old, as vinyl record turntables have toyed with a resurgence over the last decade. They’ve recently withered into usage by only one in twenty-five (4%) online adults.

However, this small and stalwart group has substantially broader and more ambitious technology purchase plans than most online adults, and certainly more than those who simply hang on to old PCs, tablets, or printers.

Turntable users are 3.5 times as likely, or more, to be planning to purchase a 3D printer, home projector, or portable Wi-Fi hotspot. They also stand out for their strong interest in Google Android/Chrome devices – whether a Chromebook, Chrome desktop, or for a Wi-Fi Android tablet. They also have the highest intentions to purchase an Apple iPod Touch, the almost-iPhone quietly targeted as a music or social communication device.

These same technology products have lured the interest of another group – basic feature phone users – although to a lesser extent. These simple cellphone users have above-average intentions for each of these same products.

Does these mean that the future for 3D printers and Chromebooks are only among these small segments? No, it’s that innovation and openness attracts other segments besides the newest-technology crowd.

In fact, the desires and intentions of these music-loving, vinyl-spinning innovation and novelty seekers run circles around the average online adult.

About this TUPdate

This TUPdate includes a complimentary brief summary of recent MetaFacts TUP (Technology User Profile) research results. These results are based on results of the MetaFacts Technology User Profile 2018 survey, its 36th consecutive wave. For more information about MetaFacts and subscribing to TUP, please contact MetaFacts.

Resources

Current TUP subscribers may request the supporting TUP information used for this analysis or for even deeper analysis.

May 3, 2018December 15, 2020

Digital Feathernesters – it’s not only generational [TUPdate]

Millennials have been getting a bad rap lately, with pundits suggesting that they’re squandering their financial futures on avocado toast or cold brew. While our TUP study doesn’t track café treats, we’re finding robust spending on technology devices and services by millennials. Among millennials, homeowners outspend their home-renting counterparts by far.

Based on our most recent wave of TUP – Technology User Profile 2017 US – millennial homeowners are far more likely than millennial renters to be using an Apple Watch or Google Wear smartwatch. Furthermore, they’re well above all other groups in using tech devices they don’t own – such as an employer-provided mobile phone, e-book reader, or tablet. They stand out for having their nest feathered by entertainment devices such as home projectors and OTT TV devices such as an Amazon Fire TV or Google TV. Also, these digital feathernesters are more likely than average to be protecting their homes with smart locks and video doorbells.

Differences in tech usage by homeownership status is not only about age, since Generation X homeowners are also well above GenX renters. Interestingly, the mix of devices used by GenX homeowners is like those used by Millennial homeowners, although at lower levels.

Millennial homeowners are a substantial market segment, making up nearly one in four connected adults. This group is only slightly larger than the 20% which are GenX homeowners and the 22% which are boomer homeowners. Renters are the smallest share of connected adults in every age group. Among millennials, a higher share are renters than the rate in other age groups, although homeowners still outnumber renters by nearly two to one.

Looking ahead

Millennial feathernesters have impressive plans, with their tech purchase intentions higher than any other age or homeownership group. Their plans which are strongly higher than the plans of other age and homeownership groups span nearly all types of devices: notebooks, tablets, and smartphones.

Homeownership status is less of a factor among GenX. Unlike the pattern among current tech users, GenX homeowners don’t have substantially stronger plans than do GenX renters. And among Baby Boomers, the pattern is slightly reversed. For many tech products, especially the most-mobile devices, a higher share of Boomer renters plan to purchase notebooks, tablets, smartphones, and desktop PCs than do Boomer homeowners.

Notes

For decades, MetaFacts has focused on research technology usage and adoption, and segmented users by a wide variety of sociodemographic and behavioral factors. This helps us support our wide variety of clients, some of who use different segmentation and analysis approaches that change over time. While many of our clients employ proprietary segmentation approaches, others seek to analyze the market using more publicly-available or convenient standards.

Analysis by age is one widely-used view, and often a productive starting point for deeper analysis. In some cases, age is a key component of life stage, reflecting passages such as adulthood or retirement. In other cases, birth year is used to identify a generational group. Segmentation approaches seek to identify groupings of people who as similar to each other as they are different from members of other groups.

For the analysis in this TUPdate, MetaFacts has categorized online adults into the following age groups:

Millennial adult (born 1981-1999, age 18-36)
Generation X (born 1965-1980, age 37-52)
Baby Boomer (born 1946-1964, age 53-71)
Silent+Greatest Generation (born 1945 and before, age 72+)

In our standard TUP analysis, we often split Millennials and GenX into younger and older groups, since much of the technology adoption varies within each of these groups.

MetaFacts continues to conduct custom analysis of the groupings that are the most useful with respect to their use and adoption of technology, as well as with respect to broader sociodemographic and behavioral analysis.

We’re also monitoring the ongoing discussion among the research community around the possible name of the next generation following Millennials. In January 2018, a New York Times reader request turned up suggestions such as “memelords”, “iGeneration”, “deltas”, or “Generation Z or GenZ”.

Source

This post includes a complimentary brief summary of recent MetaFacts TUP (Technology User Profile) research results. These results are based on results of the MetaFacts Technology User Profile survey, from TUP 2017, its 35th consecutive wave, as well as previous waves. Comparable results are available through TUP fielded in Europe and Asia. For more information about MetaFacts and subscribing to TUP, please contact MetaFacts.

March 23, 2018January 15, 2021

Smartphones Rise, PCs and Printers Float, Tablets Waver – User Trends [TUPdate]

The number of connected adults continues to rise in the US. Based on our Technology User Profile (TUP) 2017 wave, there are 212.6 million adults who regularly connect to the Internet using a PC, Mobile Phone, Tablet, or Game Console. This number is up 18.9 million from the 193.8 million adults we reported in our TUP 2013 wave.

March 30, 2017December 6, 2020

Technology Spending – Beyond Owned Gadgets

Technology Spending – Beyond Owned Gadgets – A MetaFacts TUPdate by Dan Ness, March 30, 2017

Tech spending – it’s mostly driven by living in the moment, through month-to-month subscriptions and on-demand content. Spending on tech devices, while substantial, is only a fraction of annual household spending. Also, the biggest spenders are few in number.

During the full year of 2015, 90% of household technology spending was for services and 10% for devices. Total household tech spending averaged $7.9 thousand for the year. Most of this spending was concentrated among the top 25% of spenders. In 2015, the Top Quartile of adults spent $23.6 thousand on average for technology services and devices.

For these biggest tech spenders, services make up 93% of the technology spend. This is in contrast to the Bottom Quartile of spenders, whose spending is more equally balanced, with 63.6% going for services and 36.4% for devices.

After users have acquired their tech devices, bigger spenders add more technology services, and the services they use cost more than those chosen by lesser spenders. The Bottom Quartile of tech spenders are more likely to use fewer services and rely on fewer or unpaid connections, whether in libraries, cybercafés, or workplaces. Also, users in the Bottom Quartile are more likely to actively use Refurbished devices than bigger spenders. Continue reading “Technology Spending – Beyond Owned Gadgets”