The Quartz Global Executives Study documents the changing content consumption and sharing behaviors of the world's business leaders. Quartz surveyed 940 executives in the top tiers of their respective organizations and from a range of industries and global regions to better understand how the world's smartest, busiest people consume news every day, source and share industry intelligence, and respond to advertising.
Find out more about the study's methodology and respondent profile.75% of executives spend at least 30 minutes consuming news each day.
60% of executives are most focused on news in the morning, particularly upon waking.
30% check news throughout the day.
61% of executives primarily use mobile devices to consume news; only 5% report reading a newspaper or turning on the TV first.
60% of executives read an email newsletter as one of their first three news sources they check daily--more than twice as high as news apps.
To keep up with news in their industry, executives rely heavily on email newsletters, general news sites, and industry-specific news sites.
Executives share on mobile and desktop devices about evenly, with 47% predominantly sharing on mobile devices and 48% on desktop.
Executives are more likely to use social media for sharing rather than sourcing content. LinkedIn is used for sharing more than twice as much as for sourcing news.
61% subscribe to newspapers and magazines, but only 3% use them as a primary news source.
37% of executives pay for digital news; executives in the finance industry are more likely than others to pay.
About half of executives follow brands both
within and outside of their industries.
Industry analysis, new products and innovations, and leadership insights are the leading topics of interest to executives.
Sponsored content is more than twice as likely to be
remembered as banner ads, and 4.7 times more likely to be
remembered than full-screen takeovers. Video and sponsored
content are the most memorable digital ad formats.
12%
6%
5%
Ads on mobile sites are more than twice as likely to be remembered than those in native apps. Desktop ads are slightly more memorable than
mobile ads.
About half of executives notice mobile ads but only 27% of those who do interact with them on purpose, creating a significant opportunity for brands to more effectively engage this audience.
50%