• by Masha Geller , May 20, 2002

Affluent online investors are the dream targets of many an advertiser, but reaching them is often a tough assignment. Where do they hide? We took it upon ourselves to investigate. As it turns out, an overwhelming majority (75.6%) of affluent online investors responding to a recent MediaPost/oneFN survey, are spending more time with business media now than they did several years ago.

We found that only 7.3% report spending less time. When seeking investment ideas, 71.5% use the Internet for information compared to 26.4% in other media. Only 11.6% of online investors consult a broker for investment ideas.

Asked which business media sources they are spending more time with, 70.2% said the Internet. Television and newspapers were evenly divided at 26.2% each and 17.1% cited magazines.

A growing number (14.9%) indicated that they would be willing to pay for a financial advisors’ newsletter and 11% for analyst recommendations (despite recent adverse publicity). The survey found 41.4% were still unwilling to pay for financial information.

When asked which business medium has the most credible advertising, online investors were generally cautious with 25% citing newspapers and 19% the Internet.

On the subject of Internet advertising, 33% said the feature they most preferred was pricing information, 31% replied product information and 29% comparative product information.