According to the PRC, South Africa's media and marketing industry has been using Living Standards Measures (LSMs) to plan advertising spend since 1989.

The council, however, says that it realised that, due to South Africa's complex society and levels of inequality, different measures were needed. The measures would need to better reflect the country’s reality — a population that ranges from those living on social grants to the very wealthy and everything in between.

The council says that the answer is in the development of Socio-Economic Measures (SEMs). When the PRC first launched the SEM to replace LSM, it comprised 10 groupings. This was a familiar number, as the LSMs had ranged from one to 10.

To make the SEMs more understandable, two Supergroup formations were developed, one of five and another of three segments, which make the SEMs more user friendly. While the initial grouping of 10 remains in place, it is supplemented by the SEM Supergroups. 


Groupings were developed to encompass a low, medium and high classification, and provide the option of breaking the upper and lower groups into two (three broad groups could break into five). The idea was to give the industry a common starting point to feel comfortable using the SEMs.

"Essentially, the SEM Supergroups are based on where changes in lifestyle are found in the segment profiles, and [they] deliver the granularity required by agencies and publishers," says CEO of the PRC, Josephine Buys.

For example, within the category 'Read any newspaper or magazine', where Supergroup 1 is the mass market and Supergroup 5 is the top end, the percentage of those who read newspapers or magazines are:
  • 77% of Supergroup 5
  • 64% of Supergroup 4
  • 51% of Supergroup 3
  • 40% of Supergroup 2
  • 36% of Supergroup 1
The councils says that if one looks at the income of the groupings, Supergroup 1 earns an average of R4 417 a month, while Supergroup 2's salary is around R5 988. Supergroup 3 moves to R8 913 per month, while Supergroup 4 earns around R19 593. At the top, Supergroup 5 makes an average of R43 308.

According to the PRC, advertisers tend to not define their target markets with a single metric. The LSMs mostly talked about and commonly used groups such as 8-10, 7-10 and 5-6/5-7. Underlying these groupings were inflections in terms of access and habits.

The council says that the SEM Supergroups, as shown above, delve deeper into the groupings, giving planners and publishers granular information on consumers. How often they read and how much they earn are intrinsically tied together.

"Standardised buying targets make it easier for both the sell and buy side of trade. Publishers give these profiles and demographics on rate cards and presentations,” says Buys. Buys says that it was essential for the media sector to adopt SEMs, as historic measurements such as LSMs are misrepresentative of the population.

The PRC Supergroups include:

AVERAGE INCOME
Supergroup 1 — R4 417
Supergroup 2 — R5 988
Supergroup 3 — R8 913
Supergroup 4 — R19 593
Supergroup 5 — R43 308

EMPLOYMENT
Supergroup 1 — 40%
Supergroup 2 — 47%
Supergroup 3 — 53%
Supergroup 4 — 63%
Supergroup 5 — 68%

AVERAGE AGE
Supergroup 1 — 33
Supergroup 2 — 33
Supergroup 3 — 35
Supergroup 4 — 39
Supergroup 5 — 43

EDUCATION
Supergroup 1 — Primary or less 14%, some high school 51%, matric 32%, university/post matric 2%
Supergroup 2 — Primary or less 9%, some high school 42%, matric 44%, university/post matric 5%
Supergroup 3 — Primary or less 5%, some high school 36%, matric 49%, university/post matric 10%
Supergroup 4 — Primary or less 2%, some high school 46%, matric 46%, university/post matric 32%
Supergroup 5 — Some high school 11%, matric 42%, university/post matric 47%

For more information, visit www.prc.za.com. You can also follow the PRC on Facebook or on Twitter.