PRNewswire | Google Consumer Surveys
I was more intrigued that a new press release touts a survey done with Google Consumer Surveys than I was by the conclusion: Most Americans have never heard of zero-percent balance transfer credit cards. (Really?) When Google launched the survey service in March, it was seen as a way for content publishers to implement a kind of alternate paywall, in which people pay with information rather than money. Now we see that the surveys are a source of news, too.
So who responds to these surveys? Judging from the credit card survey and two other questions included in Google’s samples, people who come across these surveys are more likely to be male than the overall U.S. population. And young people are over-represented, particular those between the ages of 18 and 24. That may say as much about the kinds of people who are online as it does about the people who will take the survey; there was no consistency between response and non-response in various age groups. Google accounts for differences between the demographics of respondents and the U.S. population by weighting the results of different groups.
Adweek and the Texas Tribune are using the surveys. The Texas Tribune is putting them on two of its news apps (a prison inmate lookup and a state employee salary database). The Tribune, which started experimenting with the surveys in August, is bringing in about $5,000 a month from the surveys, April Hinkle, director of business development, told me via email.
Related: At least Google Consumer Surveys give consumers something in exchange for their opinion (iMedia Connection) | Is Google Letting Anyone Do “Scientific” Surveys A Good Thing? (Marketing Land)
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