Highlights of the LD Reader Profile Survey

>From February to April, Intertec Planning and Research (a unit of Intertec(R)/Primedia, which owns LD) conducted a first-ever survey of Lighting Dimensions readers. A total of 1,000 domestic subscribers were mailed questionnaires; 378 usable ones were returned for the tabulation, representing a 39% response rate. We hope you put your $1 incentives to good use. Some of the key findings are as follows.

This is who you are:

* 73% of respondents are lighting industry professionals. 10% are involved in education, either as teacher or instructor.

* Of the professionals, 23% are independent or staff designers, 18% are independent or staff technicians, and 15% are in executive management or are owners.

* The majority of respondents work or have worked in the following areas: Theatre/opera/dance, clubs/restaurants, concerts/touring events, corporate presentations/industrials, and commercial or residential architectural lighting. There is a good deal of crossover between professionals in the theatre/opera/dance and concerts/touring events realms.

* One out of two respondents have been in the lighting industry for less than 15 years. 22% have been in the industry for six to 10 years and 13% have been in lighting for one to five years.

* Respondents work in a variety of large facilities. 45% of theatre/ opera/dance professionals work in venues with an average of 2,007 seats; 23% of concerts/touring events professionals work in venues with 5,016 seats; 23% of corporate presentations/industrials professionals work in venues with 5,257 seats; and 15% of clubs/restaurants professionals work in 1,899-seat venues.

This is what you buy:

* 90% of all respondents are involved, to some extent, with lighting equipment purchases. 73% select the brand and the style.

* Respondents spent a mean of $100,956 on lighting equipment in 1997 and expect to spend $112,699 (or 12% more) this year.

* 80% purchase lighting instruments, 70% purchase lighting control instruments, 68% purchase dimming systems, and 47% buy truss/ rigging. Equipment most often shopped for includes architectural lighting control, show control software, video/projection and display systems, fiber-optics systems, motion control software, and lasers.

* 45% of respondents plan to purchase lighting instruments in the next two years. 33% plan to buy entertainment lighting control products, 33% plan to buy dimming systems, and 28% truss/rigging.

* 52% plan to buy lighting accessories in the next 12 months. 50% plan to buy gel media; 44%, lamps (non-fluorescent, fluorescent, and xenon); 43%, gobos/patterns; 42%, connectors/cables; and 33%, rigging accessories.

This is how you use the magazine:

* 57% of our fully paid readership of 11,899 passes along its copies to an additional five people, making our total readership 45,549.

* 55% of respondents keep their copies of Lighting Dimensions for an average of more than 12 months. They refer to our Buyers Guides (published in August) and our Industry Resources directories (published in December) an average of 28 times per year.

* Top-rated features of the magazine include equipment reviews, product news, and theatre and concert articles. General news and our voluminous LDI show reports are also highly read.

Thanks to our respondents for providing a wealth of data that will make LD an even more useful publication for all readers in the future.