Standout: Blog readers make buying decisions on bloggers recommendations and take in consideration their opinions

The Romanian blogs audience study, made by Standout in May-June 2012, shows that 63.1% of blogs readers brought products and services recommended by blogs they read. Moreover, 70.6% of blogs readers changed or consolidated their opinion over a product, service or company following reading bloggers opinion on those.

Standout study was made in May-June, on 78 Romanian blogs, through an online questionnaire to which over 10,000 readers answered (10,164). This is the 3rd edition of the study, for 2012, after the editions in 2008-2009 and 2010-2011.

In the following days, individual results will also be available for the blogs that gathered a big enough number of answers. 2012 edition of the study will allow comparing the individual results with blog readers general characteristics and specifics for each blogs niche taken in consideration within the study.

Standout’s study shows the blogs audience in Romania consists mainly of young people, with bigger than average incomes and superior studies. Moreover, those are the active internet users with accounts in social networks (84.2% on Facebook, 36.7% on Google+, 35.9% on YouTube, 24.7% on Twitter) that bring in discussion in their friends groups subjects they read about on blogs (77.5% sometimes, often or very often), as they are asked for their opinions by their friends (70% often and very often).

When it comes of age, 68.1% of blogs readers are 19-34 years old, with the most frequent age groups being 25-29 y.o. (24.1%), 19-24 y.o. (23.4%) and 30-34 y.o. (20.6%).  The readers under 18 are representing just under 4.6% from blog readers total, while the ones aged 35-49 y.o represent 22.8%.

On the other hand, education-wise, 51.3% of blogs readers finished at least one faculty. Hierarchically, most are still students (18.8%) or are employed on a middle management position (15.1%). A tenth of readers are freelancers.

In terms of personal income, 72% of blogs readers have a monthly income over RON 1,000, with 41.8% declaring incomes between RON 1,000 – 3,000, 19.5% – incomes of RON 3,000 – 6,000 and 10.6% – monthly incomes over RON 6,000.

The study also shows that most of the readers are loyal readers, with almost half of them (48.7%) accessing daily or a few times a day their favorite blogs. On the other hand, 33.8% blog readers are accessing their favorite blogs a few times a week.

Standout also analyzed, within the study, the impact blogs have over readers actions, on 2 directions: direct influence over consumption / buying and influence over their opinions – generally and related to products, services and companies.

The study revealed that 70.6% of readers changed or consolidated at least once the opinions they had over a product, service or company after they read bloggers opinions related to those, and more than half of them (63.1%) also brought products / services / apps following a blogger’s recommendation.

The study shows that blogs have a real impact when it comes opinions and buying comportment of readers, and the readers are, besides an ideal demographic target for advertisers, also influential within their friends circles, and they discuss with their friends what they are reading on blogs

Ionut Oprea

Manager Standout

Standout is a Romanian agency specialized in marketing and communication on blogs and social networks founded in 2007. Standout runs campaigns on the most visited blogs and social networks in Romania, managing a network of over 200 Romanian blogs, selected on quantitative and qualitative criteria.

Standout implemented, during the last years, campaigns on blogs and social networks for brands like Orange, Danone, Sony, Gealan, BCR, Coca-Cola, Toshiba, Dove, Rexona, HP, Beck’s, UPC, Santal, Jacobs, KLM, Titan, Praktiker, Bitdefender, Diverta and many others.