Business model of YouGov

Customer Segments

YouGov’s products and services are utilised by a range of institutional, federal and corporate customers. The Company began by pursuing business within the public service sector before diversifying in order to take advantage of more profitable opportunities in the commercial sector.

YouGov has served a range of government agencies and bodies as well as companies across multiple sectors, including high-profile names from the following sectors:

• consumer goods
• digital, media and technology,
• automotive,
• retail
• cosmetics
• financial services
• politics
• public services and non-profit

Among the Company’s recent clients are Airbnb, L’Oréal, Nissan Europe, Asda, Barclays, KFC, Bank of America, Google, and Microsoft.

Geographically, the US market is YouGov’s largest revenue generator, accounting for around one-third of
the Company’s revenue, followed by the UK. The Company divides the remainder of its revenue across five regions: Middle East, Germany, Nordic, France and Asia Pacific.

Value Propositions

YouGov provides value to its customers through its provision of comprehensive research and analytics, its use of innovative technology solution, the efficiency and speed of its services and the ease with which its products acne be utilised.

YouGov implements a range of innovative data collection methods, combined with powerful analytics technology, to deliver accurate data products and expert insights. The Company claims to have effectively automated the process of data collection, analysis and presentation, enabling it to deliver results to its customers faster than competitors.

YouGov also collaborates with a network of partners to help it deliver data from a range of reliable sources, and works continuously with YouGov panelists to ensure it relays up-to-date information at all times.

Channels

YouGov operates a website at www.yougov.com, through which customers are able to find information on the Company’s products and services. Customers are also able to access their user accounts and some of the Company’s products through the relevant YouGov web pages.

While some subscription products can be accessed via YouGov’s online channel, more specialised and complex projects require a closer relationship between the client and the Company. YouGov operates sales offices across its seven regions of operations, through which clients are able to negotiate budgets and briefs, receiving a bespoke service on a project-by-project basis.

Customer Relationships

Many of YouGov’s products and services can be accessed on a self-service basis through its website. The Company’s more complex services must be acquired via direct interaction with members of the YouGov sales team, in order for the details of individual client briefs to be adequately met. Content published by YouGov is largely client-led.

YouGov provides a range of resource for its customers on its website, including webinars, white papers, and reports. The Company also hosts a blog to keep its customers updated with company developments and activity within the market research sector.

Customers of YouGov can also interact directly with the Company through its Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts.

Key Activities

YouGov is a UK-based international market research company. It operates across seven regional divisions – UK, Middle East, Germany, Nordic, US, Asia Pacific and France – to provide a range of custom and subscription-based market research services. It principally offers three product lines, comprising Custom Research services, Data Products, and Data Services.

The Company’s products include flagship daily brand perception tracker YouGov BrandIndex, planning and segmentation tool YouGov Profiles, digital behavior tracker YouGov Pulse, national survey service YouGov Omnibus, and market intelligence analysis product YouGov Reports.

The majority of the YouGov’s revenue is generated its Custom Research segment, which refers to YouGov’s provision of complex qualitative and quantitative research projects that commissioned individually by its clients and cover briefs tailored specifically to customer requirements and budgets.

Key Partners

YouGov cooperates with a range of companies and organisations, both to enhance its own products and services and to collaborate on joint-venture projects. The Company’s partners principally comprise:

• Media Partners, including online and offline publications, media houses and broadcasters;
• Academic Partners, including university departments and research institutions; and
• Technology Partners, including software developers, analytics providers, and data collection specialists.

YouGov has recently established partnerships with publications and media houses including Liberation, Huffington Post and i-Télé, and in 2015 launched an academic partnership with Cambridge University’s Department of Politics and International Studies.

YouGov also partners with many of its clients to provide analysis and presentations for public consumption, such as its project with JC Deceaux to create a landmark identification game, and a project with Kickboard to analyse school culture initiatives across more than 2,500 schools.

Key Resources

YouGov’s key resources are its products, its data collection and analytics technology, its personnel, its network of partners, and its IT infrastructure.

YouGov’s partners in particular are key to its continuing success, extending the Company’s research and data collection reach and enabling it to provide more comprehensive results to its clients.

While YouGov’s technology is also a key factor in its operations, searches of published patent and trademark records in the US and worldwide identified no applications filed in YouGov’s name.

Cost Structure

YouGov incurs costs in relation to its research and development activities, its research and analysis services, the management of its network of partners, the maintenance of its IT infrastructure, and the retention of its personnel.

During 2015 the Company employed an average 622 members of staff, with average revenue per head in the form of salary and benefits amounting to £122,000. These employee costs represented 46% of the Company’s annual revenue. YouGov also operates a network of offices across is seven operating regions, accruing costs in the form of rent and utilities.

Revenue Streams

YouGov generates revenue through the provision of various market research and polling services. Its revenue is divided between its two principal operating segments – Products and Services and Custom Research – which consist of three revenue streams:

• the sale of subscription data products such as YouGov BrandIndex, YouGov Reports and YouGov Profiles;
• the sale of data services, principally comprising the Company’s YouGov Omnibus service; and
• the sale of custom research services, comprising a range of specialist quantitative and qualitative research projects.

YouGov also generates a small amount of revenue from media buying activities, where the Company acts as an agent.

In 2015 YouGov generated an annual revenue of £76.1 million, up 13% on the previous year. The majority of this revenue is generated by the Company’s Custom Research business, which accounted for £49.9 million of the YouGov’s total revenue for the year. The remainder was made up by the Data Products and Services segment, with data products generating £11.9 million and data services generating £14.3 million.