Brunswick Group 2014 Survey of Investment Community Finds 70% Believe Digital Media Will Play an Increasing Role in Future Investment Decisions.
~ Global survey finds that information direct from companies remains most influential factor guiding investors and analysts, but digital influence is growing ~
~ More than one in four participants has made an investment decision based on information first gleaned from a blog post ~
San Francisco, CA, and New York, NY, February 26, 2014 – Brunswick Group LLC, a global corporate relations and communications consultancy, today released results of its fourth online survey of nearly 500 institutional investors and sell-side analysts in North America, Europe and Asia examining the changing impact of various factors in their investment recommendations and decisions since the initial benchmark set in 2009.
This year’s survey found that the global investment community continues to look to companies as their primary source of information as they form their investment recommendations and decisions. However, investor and analyst interaction with digital media continues to increase in nearly all categories and deeper online engagement continues to drive investment action. Investors are indicating that traditional business media has become less important in the past year, with real-time subscription services and blogs rising to become more important.
“The investment community is increasingly looking to digital media for information about their investments and recommendations,” said Jason Golz, Partner at the Brunswick Group. “Importantly, that information continues to influence investment decisions too. This year, 58% of those surveyed said they investigated an issue after reading a blog, and 27% said they have made an investment decision after first discovering a new insight from a blog post.”
“While investors and analysts continue to rank information direct from companies as their top source, third party information that is delivered fast and considered insightful, such as real-time subscription information services, analyst research and digital media, is both highly ranked and growing in importance ,” concluded Golz.
Key findings of the survey include:
- 70% of investors believe that digital media will play an increasing role in future investment decisions
- 29% of investors are proactively following up on leads initially found on micro-blogging services, such as Twitter
- Twitter influence continues to expand, but its growing influence may be under-reported due to recent inclusion on other platforms, like Bloomberg
- In ranking their top sources, investors gave information direct from companies an average ranking of 1.9, higher than any other source (lower figures mean they are more influential)
- 35% of investors listed real-time subscription services, like Bloomberg, as becoming more valuable for their work, compared to 22% on our last survey
Other findings include:
- Print business media saw an average ranking of 5.3, down from an average ranking of 5.1 in the prior survey
- Primary market research continues to decline in importance with an average ranking of 3.9, down from an average of 3.6 in the last survey
- When it comes to information from companies, investors rank direct interaction with management the highest, while a company’s digital media presence remains the lowest in terms of influence
The survey was distributed by Brunswick Insight to several thousand buy-side investors and sell-side analysts in the U.S., Europe and Asia in November 2013. 472 analysts and investors responded with a nearly 48/52 split between the sell-side and buy-side, and a 40/40/20 split between respondents based in the U.S., Europe and Asia, respectively. Participant profile details were captured in the survey, including firm type, geographic location, sector focus, market-cap focus and age group.
Brunswick Insight is Brunswick’s specialist opinion research practice, focusing on understanding the views of opinion formers around the world. For more information on Brunswick’s Digital Media Survey, please visit www.brunswickgroup.com.
The related Investor Survey press release is also available in Chinese. Click here to download the PDF.
About Brunswick Group LLP
Brunswick Group is a private partnership with a growing team of more than 700 people, including over 100 partners around the world. The firm has grown organically since it was established in 1987 and currently has 22 wholly owned offices in 13 countries. Brunswick is the global leader in financial and corporate communications, and provides senior counsel to clients around the globe on critical issues that affect reputation, valuation and business success. The firm's service offer comprises corporate and financial communications, investor relations, internal communications and perception research. Brunswick operates offices in Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Dallas, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Milan, Munich, New York, Paris, Rome, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sao Paulo, Vienna and Washington DC.
Contact:
Jason Golz
[email protected]
415) 671 7676
Sparky Zivin
[email protected]
202) 393 7337