This is our first year doing a reader/viewer survey. I figured it would be important, but honestly didn’t know what to expect. Although Excel TV Media Group, LLC is a corporation, to me it feels like my child. I (and others) have cared for it, given it our love, attention, time and creative energy for some time now. And asking people on the internet to take a survey and let me know if they like it or not… felt like I was asking random internet people if they thought my child was attractive or not. Feels raw and wrong.
I got over it.
And I’m glad I did.
What I Wanted To Find Out
I wanted to get a better handle on our audience — find out about you. Not only the demographics, but what do you come to Excel TV for? How is an Excel TV reader different? What sort of products and services should we develop to meet the needs of our audience?
The Numbers
Based on the numbers, here’s what a “reader profile” would look like. I added some additional thoughts to compete the picture:
Demographics
- Our website audience is mostly male (86%) and between the ages of 45 and 54 (34%).
- He is likely to have completed college (80%) and may very well have completed graduate studies (39%)
- He is an intermediate manager (26%) working in a spreadsheet intensive field like Finance (23%)
- He lives in the United States (38%).
- This is quite different from our Facebook audience, which is mostly from India (23%), followed by Pakistan (12%) and Egypt (11%)
In short, the website audience looks a lot like me. Educated male in the US. Middle age, middle career, working in a numbers related department. Also, looking at these numbers, I can see why some of our most popular posts are for things like Monte Carlo Simulation and Standard Deviation in Excel. Finance “number cruncher” types would be most interested in that type of content.
About The Reader
- Things he gets asked about most in Excel: Pivot Tables, Macros, Dashboards/Visualizations, Cleaning up data, Formulas, VBA, Power Query, Power Pivot
- What hasn’t worked for him: Excel Help, Books, Udemy, Online training that requires a multi-week commitment. He is much more likely to find a blogger or Youtuber that he likes and follow that person. And hit the blogosphere when he has a question.
- He values the opinions of people like Michael Alexander, Ken Puls, Rob Collie, Matt Allington, Alberto Ferrari, Chandoo, Jordan Goldmeier, Mr Excel, Mike Girvin, Mynda Treacy, Jon Peltier, Debra Dalgleish, The Spreadsheet Guru, Jon Acampora, Ken Puls, and of course the Excel TV Hosts. He mentioned lots more people. But basically, if you are online and have a presence that provides regular value, then he follows you and values your opinion.
- Sample of things that keep him up at night include: the constant updates to Power BI (staying updated), dirty data, and dashboards
- Things he finds interesting about Excel includes Power BI, Power Query, Pivot Tables, Arrays, VBA and Dashboards
His Views of Excel TV
- He doesn’t need to know much more about the Excel TV hosts. But he wouldn’t be disappointed if we shared our experience and background. He likes the general conversations and debates that happen on the show.
- On Youtube he watches ExcelIsFun and MrExcel as well as the occasional PASS Conference video. He watches Excel TV on Youtube, but mostly for the interviews and conversations. He doesn’t watch many of the Excel TV tutorial on Youtube.
- Regarding purchasing a future Excel TV product… he already feels confident in the Excel TV Hosts but would need to see a product that fit his needs at a price point that made sense to him. In short… price, time, quality, and need.
- He would like to see an add-in or training courses from Excel TV. Maybe some PowerBI videos as well.
If you are a survey geek, then I will share the full results with you by following this link
What I’m Taking Away from the Numbers
- Focus Our Content on Your Needs – From the results, I see that our website audience is not the typical Excel Blog audience. You didn’t likely show up here because you found us in a google search for ‘how to do an absolute cell reference’. You likely came here because you are an Excel geek like we are. The results bear this out. Our audience is not a casual Excel user. He is in Excel everyday in a job like Finance. And he wants content from us that focuses around a few broad categories: 1) Data Cleanup 2) Automation 3) Visualization & Dashboards 4) Excel Power Tools. Excel TV website needs to create giveaways, content and products that focus around these themes. We have already started down this path. Szilvia’s Power User Quick Guides Free Download is available today. More are on the way. We must continue to keep our focus on the 4 broad categories highlighted above.
- Keep Recording Videos – Our audience has come to appreciate the conversation that comes with many of the interviews and discussions. Nowhere else on the web are you likely to find how to start an Excel Consulting business, or start an Excel podcast, or watch an Excel debate or dashboard critique. This is video content that is unique to Excel TV and should continue to be developed.
- Develop Training Content & Products/Services – Our audience is willing to give an Excel TV product a try as long as it meets a need and price point. This effort is underway right now. Jordan is busy recording our first training course Excel Dashboard Pro. There will be several others to follow that will align with the needs that were uncovered in this survey (data cleansing, automation, visualization, and Power Tools). Earlier in the summer, we also released Szilvia eBook Power User Starter Kit Volume 1. We must continue down this path.
- Develop Free Tutorials – Our website content today is largely a transcript of the Excel TV show video segments. This has its place. But there is a desire from the audience for tutorials. The closest we get to tutorials today is a “tips” section of the show. By default, tips and tricks are one-off magic tricks, not a 7 part tutorial on how to master a skill. There is a gap on the website for this type of content. So it must get prioritized.
- Quality – Although not explicitly mentioned in the results, it is an undercurrent that runs though all the items above. Historically we have been based on Google Hangouts. That type of format and content has its place. But as we move to Free tutorials and Paid online training, higher quality video will be needed to instill confidence from the purchaser. This has started with the video created for Jordan’s Political Map Giveaway, and will need to continue to evolve and improve. The new logos and artwork that has come out in recent months/weeks is also part of this journey.
Thank You
Thanks to everyone who completed the survey. This will be an annual exercise for us as we continue to align ourselves with what you want and need in the marketplace.
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