While all Metroculturals 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 Metroculturals, understanding their variety can help with programming, marketing and outreach.
Understand how these Subsegments differ:
Metroculturals | M1
Older, established and high-spending professional elites.
- Profiles and Places | Older Metrocultural professionals whose success allows a comfortable lifestyle. Living in desirable houses in central and sought-after areas in large cities, especially London.
- Attitudes and Sectors | These audiences have wide ranging cultural interests, including those which require higher levels of financial and cultural capital (e.g. 'top ticket' events and museums). They also invest in taking their children to a broad variety of cultural events and activities, where relevant. M1s among the most likely to say 'this artform is an important part of who I am' or that they are attending 'to be intellectually stimulated'.
- Digital and Comms | Highly digitally engaged and with busy lifestyles, they proactively seek out a wide range of information about cultural events and make a point of being 'in the know'. They make high use of social media and messaging apps, especially Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Apple Music/TV services and Spotify are popular, and they have high levels of online gaming with others, and are among the most likely to have used VR/AR.
Metroculturals | M2
Younger, mobile and emerging metropolitan professionals.
- Profiles and Places | Younger Metroculturals, starting out in elite professions. M2s live close to the centre of things, often in flats, with lots of life and career still taking shape and are yet to settle down. They are particularly likely to be based in London.
- Attitudes and Sectors | Varied and deliberately omnivorous tastes, highly engaged in multiple types of arts and culture (including contemporary drama). Like M1s, they are among the most likely to say 'this artform is an important part of who I am' or that they are attending 'to be intellectually stimulated'.
- Digital and Comms | Digitally 'always on' with multiple social feeds and openness to trying new forms of culture, they actively seek out and share information. They too make high use of social media and messaging apps, especially Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube, are heavy users of a wide range of subscription content services (especially Apple and Netflix), and are among the most likely to have used VR/AR.