Who Are BAR Readers?
BAR recently conducted what is known in the magazine world as a demographic study—a survey of a random selection of its readers—to see who they are, what they are like, what they prefer in the magazine, and what they don’t care for.
BAR readers are an unusually educated group—as might have been expected. About half of our readers (47%) hold advanced degrees and 75% graduated from college. Over 58% are employed as professionals.
We are also a remarkably stable group. Over 41% have lived in their present home for more than 10 years. 72% are married and 19% are single.
While over a quarter of our readers (27%) live in large cities of over one-half million people, 55% live in towns with a population of 100,000 or less.
Over 88% of our readers are members of a church or synagogue. We appeal to liberals as well as conservatives: over 41% of our readers consider themselves liberal in their theological views; 60% regard themselves as conservative or fundamentalist or both (that is why the total is more than 100%). 31% say they are evangelicals.
We are a well-traveled group. Almost half (47%) have traveled outside the United States in the last two years. We are also well-read—or at least we buy lots of books: 28% spend over $300 a year on books; 88% spend over $50 a year on books.
38% of BAR’s readers are enthusiastic about the magazine. An additional 53% feel good about it. 6% are lukewarm about it and 1% are critical.
The most numerous requests are for more information on new finds, more Biblical interpretation, more color pictures, more excavation reports, and more treatment of controversial subjects—in that order. A substantial number of people also wanted more book reviews and more reports on museum activities.
7% say we are too hard to understand and 8% say we are too simplistic. The editorial staff claims this is the way it should be if they are doing their job correctly!