The Q Score is a way to measure the familiarity and appeal of a brand, company, celebrity, cartoon character or television show. The higher the Q Score, the more well-known and well thought of the item or person being scored is. The Q Score is primarily used by the marketing, advertising and public relations industries.
Sometimes the term Q score is used in popular discussions of a person or product's overall fame, popularity, or likeability. Other popular synonyms include Q rating, Q factor, or simply Q.
The Q Score was developed in 1963 by Marketing Evaluations, Inc. , a United States company based in Manhasset, New York.
To calculate someone or something's Q Score, Marketing Evaluations surveys a panel of US consumer households about their awareness and opinion of that person or thing. Two factors influence the Q Score: the number of people who are aware of the product in question, and the number of people who claim that product as one of their favorites.
Q Scores are calculated for the population as a whole as well as for demographic groups such as age, sex, income or education level.
Marketing Evaluations claims that the Q Score is more valuable to marketers than other popularity measurements such as the Nielsen Ratings because Q Scores indicate not only how many people are aware of or watch a product, but how those people feel about the product. A well-liked television show, for example, may be worth more as a commercial venue to an advertiser than a higher-rated show that people don't like as much.
Marketing Evaluations regularly calculates Q Scores in 8 categories:
- TVQ rates broadcast television programs
- Cable Q rates cable television programs
- Performer Q rates celebrities
- Dead Q rates the current popularity of dead celebrities
- Sports Q rates sports figures
- Cartoon Q rates cartoon characters, video games, toys and similar products
- Product Q rates brand and company names
- Kids Product Q rates children's responses to brand and company names
TVQ and Cable Q Scores are calculated for all regularly scheduled broadcast and cable shows.
Other Q Scores are calculated to order for clients who pay Marketing Evaluations who want to research public perception of a brand or celebrity. For example, in 2000, IBM hired Marketing Evaluations to calculate the Q Score for Deep Blue, the supercomputer that defeated chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov. Deep Blue's Q Score was 9, meaning the computer was as familiar and appealing at the time as Carmen Electra, Howard Stern and Batman. In contrast, Albert Einstein's Q Score at the time was 56, while Larry Ellison and Scott McNealy each received a Q Score of 6.
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