GWI (formerly GlobalWebIndex) is an audience research company founded by Tom Smith in 2009 that provides audience insight to publishers, media agencies and marketers around the world. GWI profiles consumers across 48+ countries with a panel representing over 2.7 billion digital consumers, making insights available through a subscription-based platform.

History

In October 2012, GWI surprised social media analysts and commentators by claiming that Twitter and Facebook had big followings in China and Vietnam (later lift the ban on Facebook) – countries where those social networks are blocked by their respective governments. The story was picked up by various news outlets including

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ma ...

, and the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', where the rise of

VPN A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. The be ...

has been attributed as the primary enabler for Chinese internet users circumventing website blocks. Almost a decade after the company was founded, and with customers including Google, Spotify, WPP and Omnicom Group, it closed its first round of series A funding in 2018. The company raised $180M series B funding in February 2022, and was valued at $850M.

Data Sources

GWI combines survey data from millions of panelists with advanced

analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data. It also entails applying data patterns toward effective decision-making. It ...

and

data science Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge and insights from noisy, structured and unstructured data, and apply knowledge from data across a br ...

to provide professionals with audience

insight Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intu ...

. The platform collects data in

demographics Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

, online behavior,

device access A device is usually a constructed tool. Device may also refer to: Technology Computing * Device, a colloquial term encompassing desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. * Device file, an interface of a device driver * Peripheral, any devic ...

media consumption Media consumption or media diet is the sum of information and entertainment media taken in by an individual or group. It includes activities such as interacting with new media, reading books and magazines, watching television and film, and lis ...

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

, and marketing touch points – after which it presents data through

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

s and dashboards.

GWI Core

Core is the ongoing GWI research study, which interviews internet users across the world, over four waves of research each year. Each respondent is questioned in detail, resulting in 200,000+ profiling points across the platform for consumer research. In 2017, brand data was added. When launched, it provided insight into over 4,000+ tracked brands and can be used against the profiling points of the GWI Core data set.

GWI Work

In 2019, GWI launched its first ever B2B data set, which analyses the behaviours and attitudes of working professionals. Using a dedicated panel of 17,000+ respondents, its first report using the research was produced in collaboration with Slack Technologies Inc.

Custom research

GWI's custom research is used by marketers and advertisers to run customized surveys and projects using their panel of global consumers, giving them access to data tailored to their target audience. The range of services offered through its custom arm include website and campaign analytics, brand tracking, concept testing, and ad effectiveness studies.

References

{{reflist Market research companies Audience measurement Consumer behaviour