Airline Media

Nearly half of American adults are exposed to airport media each year. Forty-six percent of Americans age 18 or older (an estimated 102 million people) have taken at least one round-trip airline flight in the past year.

Airline travelers are exposed to airport media with considerable frequency. 54% of adults who have used airline travel in the past year have flown in the past three months, meaning half of airline travelers are exposed to airport media on a quarterly basis. More than one in 10 annual airline travelers are exposed to airport media in an average week.

Airline travelers are over 50% more likely to have an annual household income of $100,000 or more than the average American. Twenty-three percent of airline travelers have an annual household income of $100,000 or more per year, compared with only 15% of average Americans. Frequent flyers identified as those who take four or more airline trips per year in Scarborough findings are the most affluent travelers, with 43% having an annual household income of $100,000 or more. Fifty-four percent of frequent flyers live in a household making at least $75,000 per year, compared to only 30% of average Americans.

Frequent flyers are passionate about trying new products and services. Frequent flyers are trailblazers. 17% of frequent flyers classify themselves as “early adopters,” meaning that they are the first of their family and friends to try a new product or service. Only 9% of average Americans consider themselves this adventurous.

Persons 25 to 54 years old are the largest segment of frequent flyers. Sixty-eight percent are between 25 and 54 years old, making the airport an excellent place to target this valuable demographic.

Airline travelers are highly educated. Nearly 60% of all airline travellers have a college degree or higher, compared with only 43% of average Americans. Among frequent flyers, the likelihood of higher education soars to 71%.

Airline travelers are at home in high-end houses. Airline travelers are 64% more likely to live in a home valued at $1 million or more, compared to average Americans. Frequent flyers are over one and a quarter times more likely than the average person to own a second home.

Airline travellers are politically charged. Airline travellers are 11% more likely than the average American age 18 or older to always vote in state-wide elections and frequent flyers are 19% more likely to always vote in presidential races.

Scarborough shows that airline travellers particularly frequent flyers are discerning shoppers. Scarborough Research, the gold standard for consumer-shopping behaviour research, tracks the exclusive behaviour of airline travellers and frequent flyers in its national survey of 200,000 consumers. Scarborough defines an airline traveler as someone who takes at least one round-trip flight per year and a frequent flyer as someone who takes four or more round-trip flights annually. In each market, Scarborough asks which airport the consumer utilizes most often; as a result, Scarborough can analyze the local shopping and consumer profiles of specific airports. Below we have included some highlights of the consumer shopping data from Scarborough, along with tables showing buying power indexes.

The indexes compare buying and shopping patterns of airline passengers to the country overall. An index of 100 indicates that airline passengers show virtually the identical buying and shopping pattern as the country overall. An index higher than 100 indicates that airline passengers are more likely than the norm to buy the product or service. As an example (see table below), frequent flyers have an index of 179 for using online banking. This indicates that those taking four or more round-trip flights per year are 79% more likely to bank online than the typical consumer.

Airline travellers remain a strong target for business-to-business advertisers. Airline travellers, particularly frequent flyers, tend to be corporate decision makers. A large portion of airport advertising is currently targeted toward these administrators with good reason.

Luxury automobile enthusiasts congregate at the airports. Air travellers are the upscale car buyers in the United States.

Airline travellers are by every definition travellers. Airline travellers, and especially frequent flyers, are frequent hotel guests and rental car drivers.

Airline travellers are frequent vacationers, too. Airline travellers aren’t all about business; their destinations also include recreational activities, such as cruises, amusement parks, casinos and sporting events.

Airline travelers are avid moviegoers. Airline travelers see more movies in the theatre than average Americans age 18 or older, and they are more likely to see a film within the first two weeks of release.

Cutting-edge devices, such as BlackBerry, TiVo and iPod, are connecting with consumers at the airport. Frequent flyers are two and a half times more likely than the average consumer to own a portable wireless hand-held Internet device, such as a BlackBerry. They are 71% more likely to use a digital video recorder (such as TiVo), 74% more likely to own a portable digital audio player (such as an iPod) and 31% more likely to have a portable digital video player (such as a video iPod).

Home electronic equipment is popular among airline travellers. Manufacturers of high-end home entertainment devices can find their core consumers at the airport.

Facts courtesy of Arbitron.