While all Supported Communities broadly share these core characteristics, closer examination reveals two key subsegments who differ in life stage and style. If your target audience or local area is heavy on Supported Communities, understanding their variety can help with programming, marketing and outreach.
Understand how these Subsegments differ:
Supported Communities | S1
Young, immobile and hard-up, often relying on welfare to get by.
- Profiles and Places | Young individuals and families with very low incomes and often a reliance on a range of social support. Those from this group who do attend report higher levels of disability than those in any other subsegment. S1s are over-represented in Northern Ireland and concentrated in urban areas.
- Attitudes and Sectors | Along with S2s, they have the lowest levels of cultural engagement of any Audience Spectrum subsegments.
- Digital and Comms | They make high use of Facebook and Messenger, but moderate to low use of other social media. Netflix, Disney + and Amazon Prime TV are popular and they have very high levels of gaming.
Supported Communities | S2
Elderly residents of sheltered housing with declining health.
- Profiles and Places | Elderly people, often residents in sheltered housing and with limited mobility and/or declining health, living on the edges of urban areas across the UK.
- Attitudes and Sectors | Along with S1s, they have the lowest levels of cultural engagement although may have had active interest in cultural events when younger. Most likely to engage where provision is brought to them, or through a partner organisation (e.g. a housing association) due to limited opportunities to travel. Where they do attend, those in this subsegment are most likely to be attending in larger groups. This subsegment is the most likely to be attending 'to enjoy the atmosphere' and 'to spend time with friends and family'.
- Digital and Comms | S2 make moderate to very low use of social media, except Facebook, and very low use of paid subscriptions.