Ad Age Magazine & Vizu Answers Study Finds Blog Readers Are Loyal, Like to Be Entertained and...

Ad Age Uses Internet's First Do-It-Yourself Market Research Service and Network to Poll Blog Readers on What Drives Their Usage Patterns

SAN FRANCISCO -- Vizu Corporation, the company democratizing market research, today released the results of a blog readership study conducted with Ad

Among the findings, the report shows that two thirds of respondents read more than three blogs regularly, many of them daily. Almost two thirds of respondents read for entertainment, and more than half said the quality of writing helps them assess which blogs are credible and high-quality. Vizu also surveyed Spanish language blog readers and found them to be similar to their English language counterparts, other than that Spanish speakers reported reading a greater number of blogs on a regular basis.

"We were excited to work with Ad Age to study just how readers choose and use weblogs, especially because we work with a large network of bloggers for our Vizu Answers service," said Mack Tilling, CEO of Vizu. "We hope that the blog readership data in the survey is useful to bloggers themselves, as well as their readers and advertisers."

Key findings from the Vizu Answers/Ad Age blog readership study include:

-- How many and how often do people read blogs?
    --  30.8% of blog readers read more than three blogs regularly --
        and of the blogs they read most often, 68.3% of respondents
        said they read them daily.

--  Community is a primary driver of readership within the blogosphere
    --  When asked how they find the blogs they read, 67.3% follow
        links from other blogs.
    --  Recommendations on blogs (22.9%) is ranked higher than finding
        links on search engines (19.6%) when selecting which blogs to
        read.

-- What makes a good blog?
    --  43.9% of respondents said the quality of writing determines
        which blogs they will read regularly, and 43.6% said that
        topical focus is a key determinant of regular readership.
    --  51.5% said quality of writing helps them asses which blogs are
        credible and high-quality, and 38% said it was the author's
        reputation that drives perceived credibility.
    --  Post frequency and site design are also drivers of perceived
        blog quality.

-- What makes a blog a blog?
    --  38.4% replied that expressing personal opinions is the key
        element in separating blogs from other online media.
    --  Other factors include: writing style (28.2%), editorial
        freedom (26.3%) and layout (25.8%).

-- Why people read blogs...
    --  65.7% read for entertainment, and 42.5% read about Personal
        Interests/Hobbies.
    --  32.5% read for education and information.
    --  1 in 8 (12.3%) reported reading blogs for work or business.

-- Why blogs are read for work?
    --  The majority of those who read blogs for work use them as a
        tracking tool as opposed to a research tool.
    --  27.3% use blogs to track specific trends or issues.

-- Spanish-language vs. English-language blogs
    --  43.3% of Spanish-speaking respondents claim to read 10 or more
        blogs regularly (as opposed to the 16.7% of English-speaking
        respondents who read more than 10).
    --  Both audiences find blogs in similar ways -- links from other
        blogs (59.6% for Spanish and 67.3% for English)
    --  Topical focus plays a more important role with Spanish
        language respondents - 81.1% site this as most important for
        blogs they read regularly, while author reputation and quality
        of writing are less important.

Vizu Answers is a revolutionary new service that allows anyone to conduct do-it-yourself market research online, by combining an easy-to-use polling platform and vast network of websites. The service lets anyone from companies of all sizes conduct fast, cost-effective research. Additionally, Vizu Answers offers bloggers and web publishers a new way to generate revenue by hosting online polls which add intriguing content and another level of interaction to their sites.

Greg Stuart, former CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), said, "Over my career in advertising and marketing, both online and off-line, its hard to think of another marketing tool as useful as Vizu Answers. Vizu Answers is a great way for marketing, advertising, and public relations professionals to get proprietary data quickly and affordably."

The study captured 200+ blog reading respondents per question and ran across more than 40 English language blogs. A subset of questions were also run on 12 Spanish language blogs.

More commentary can be found in Ad Age magazine's Digital Special Report in the March 5th, 2007 issue. To access the full report, please visit: http://answers.vizu.com/pdf/Blog_Readership_Report_March_07.pdf.

About Vizu

Founded in 2005, Vizu is democratizing the market research industry by developing services that make online polling easy, accessible, and affordable to everyone. The company's premiere service, Vizu Answers (www.VizuAnswers.com), combines a revolutionary market research technology with a vast network of relevant web sites, offering highly targeted audiences to answer a wide variety of questions. The Vizu Answers network can also be used as a break-through on-line advertising platform. For online publishers, Vizu Answers is an innovative way to monetize site traffic in a reader friendly manner.