Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: On DC Comics' Nielsen Surveys • Just Me

Posted 3 months ago
via girlinfourcolors

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Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: On DC Comics’ Nielsen Surveys

Yesterday, DC Comics published the results of the Nielsen survey they conducted of comics readers last year:

The launch of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 galvanized the traditional fan base for superhero comic books: male readers, who were already—or have at one time been—comic book fans.

The survey results are not a reflection of all comic book readers or the broader audience for graphic novels. This was a survey of consumers who specifically purchased DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 comic books, either in print or digital format.

DC COMICS: THE NEW 52 appealed mainly to avid fans and lapsed readers. More than 70% of those surveyed categorized themselves as avid fans who visit the comic book store every week. More than a quarter of in-store consumers were lapsed readers. The survey indicates that 5% of those polled identified themselves as first-time, new readers.

More than 50% of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 readers were between the ages of 13 and 34. And more than 50% of in-store DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 consumers had an annual income of $60K or less. The data supports and arguably validates our philosophy of holding the line at $2.99 which DCE is committed to maintaining.

The majority of titles generated strong interest and likely reader retention.

Avid Fans purchased up to 20 titles out of the 52 titles.

Digital: of dual mode readers, digital is far from replacing print.

Impulse buys: Up to four-in-ten respondents reported that a NEW 52 title they were interested in (at a physical store location) was out of stock. Nearly two-thirds made a spontaneous purchase.

Did you catch this part? “The survey results are not a reflection of all comic book readers or the broader audience for graphic novels. This was a survey of consumers who specifically purchased DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 comic books, either in print or digital format.”

This excluded me from participating in the survey at the time it was conducted. This excluded the majority of comics readers I know who do not fall into that vaulted 18 - 34 White male demographic.

I work with inner-city kids, mostly youth of color, mostly poor. You know where they get their comics? They get them from the library. They read them in school. They pick them up in used book stores. They buy collected editions on Amazon, or from the Scholastic catalogs they’re given in school. The only time most of the kids I work with step foot in a comic book store is on Free Comic Book Day, and yet they are avid fans of these characters and avid readers of their stories.

This survey was never about where DC’s audience is, and it was never about finding where new readers are coming from. This survey was designed to confirm all of the biases that have been perpetuated throughout the industry for twenty years now. The current business model is heavily flawed. Diamond Distribution is killing the creativity of the comics world, because they’re keeping the books flowing only to that incestuous little group of 18 - 34 year old White males who run the culture of comic book shops.

So DC releases this survey, and it “confirms” what they “knew” all along. Women don’t read comics. People of color don’t read comics. New readers aren’t coming to comics. And so they will continue to deny us jobs in the industry, because our stories “don’t sell,” and they will never consider the fact that the problem doesn’t lie with demand, it lies in the manner of supply.

I am reminded of Scott McDaniel’s recent comments on the end of Static Shock. “I honestly believe STATIC SHOCK was cancelled simply because there was not enough fan support. Period.” And yet, hundreds of thousands of kids tuned in to the cartoon while it was on the air between 2000 and 2004. Young girls made up a huge percentage of the show’s audience. The problem is not that these characters don’t have fans. The problem is that DC Comics is not putting their books in front of those fans. The problem is that when they conduct market research to find out where their markets are, they do so only in the markets that already exist.

And so they will continue to believe that young White males are the only people who read comics, and will continue to ignore the fact that that is because young White males are the only people comics are sold to.