• by P.J. Bednarski  @pjbtweet, April 30, 2018

Data and analytics harvester YouGov has started YouGov Ratings, a free public data platform that, it says, “lets marketers see what U.S. consumers think about almost anything.” It creates popularity scores for 8,000 topics, from TV stars to cell phones to politicians to fast food restaurants.

YouGov Ratings promise to do some interesting things, like letting a user see how favorites in one topic connect with favorites of another sort — like how fans of one show tend to be fans of a certain restaurant chain — and provides demographic detail. Which brand and celebrities share fans?

For example, while the Ford Mustang is, overall, America’s favorite car (64% say it is, two percentage points higher than the Honda Accord). Democrats favor the Accord (68%) and put Mustang second. Women-only put Mustang fourth and the Accord first. Millennials favor the Mustang but put the thriftier Honda Civic second and the Accord third. And so on.

The data says 63% of those who like the Honda Accord say they can change a tire; 68% of Mustang fans say they can. 

The drilling down only goes so far; for more detailed analysis, YouGov offers proprietary data products, including BrandIndex, which tracks perceptions of brands on a daily basis, and other custom research tools. YouGov Ratings, the firm subtly suggests, is its own marketing effort to show consumers — and marketers — the breadth of its data collection. It claims five million members in its panels. 

Ratings are based on 20 million responses. YouGov began compiling the data for its Ratings last year and introduced it last week.

YouGov Ratings data certainly can indicate the nation is divided on a few people and things. Conservative author Ann Coulter, for example, ranks as the 150th most popular contemporary TV personality, and 34% of Baby Boomers have a positive opinion of her — exactly half of what she gets from Millennials. Among women, she rates 233rd on the totem pole. With men, she’s 99th.

Liberal news talk host Rachel Maddow ranks 127th on the popularity list. Among Millennials, 25% have a positive opinion, while she enjoys approval by 33% of Baby Boomers. With women, she ranks 146th on the popularity list; with men, she’s 105th.

Progressive is the sixth most popular insurance brand, far more popular with Millennials (5th) than Boomers (16th). Progressive fans, curiously, are also big fans of NBA star Jahlil Okafor and rapper J. Cole. Competitor Geico ranks fourth most popular, and ranks fourth in the age demos, and is ranked the most famous insurance company. 

The stats say 66% of those who like Geico think the federal government should make sure everybody had health insurance; 73% of Progressive fans say that, too.

The most popular insurance company? AAA, which is tops in all demos and with both sexes, and among whom 59% say the feds should make sure everybody has health insurance. Among AAA devotees, athletes Walter Payton, Lou Gehrig and Michael Phelps are especially admired. Go figure.