Q Score
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The Q Score is a measurement of the familiarity and appeal of a brand, company, celebrity, or television show, used in the United States. The higher the Q Score, the more well-known and highly-regarded the item or person is. The Q Score is primarily used by the marketing, advertising and public relations industries.
[edit] Usage
Sometimes the term Q score is used in popular discussions of a person or product’s overall fame, popularity, or likeability. Other popular synonyms include Q rating, Q factor, or simply Q. However, there is much debate as to the Q Score's use as a likability or popularity metric.[citation needed]
The Q Score was developed in 1963 by Marketing Evaluations, Inc., an American company based in Manhasset, New York.[1] Other companies have also created different measures and metrics related to the likability, popularity, and appeal of athletes, celebrities, and brands.
To calculate someone or something’s Q Score, Marketing Evaluations surveys a panel of US consumer households about their awareness and opinion of that person or thing. The Q Score is influenced by both people’s familiarity with the subject and their favorability toward it. Q Scores are calculated for the population as a whole as well as for demographic groups such as age, sex, income or education level.
Marketing Evaluations claims that the Q Score is more valuable to marketers than other popularity measurements such as the Nielsen Ratings because Q Scores indicate not only how many people are aware of or watch a product, but how those people feel about the product. A well-liked television show, for example, may be worth more as a commercial venue to an advertiser than a higher-rated show that people don’t like as much.[citation needed]
Marketing Evaluations regularly calculates Q Scores in 8 categories:
- TVQ rates broadcast television programs
- Cable Q rates cable television programs
- Performer Q rates celebrities
- Dead Q rates the current popularity of dead celebrities
- Sports Q rates sports figures
- Cartoon Q rates cartoon characters, video games, toys and similar products
- Product Q rates brand and company names
- Kids Product Q rates children’s responses to brand and company names
TVQ and Cable Q Scores are calculated for all regularly scheduled broadcast and cable shows.
Other Q Scores are calculated to order for clients who pay Marketing Evaluations and who want to research public perception of a brand or celebrity. For example, in 2000, IBM hired Marketing Evaluations to calculate the Q Score for Deep Blue, the supercomputer that defeated chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov. Deep Blue’s Q Score was 9, meaning the computer was as familiar and appealing at the time as Carmen Electra, Howard Stern and Batman. In contrast, Albert Einstein’s Q Score at the time was 56, while Larry Ellison and Scott McNealy each received a Q Score of 6.[2][3]
