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When we tell clients our panel delivers superior quality, we don't expect them to take our word for it. That's why we run an annual benchmarking programme - a rigorous exercise designed to compare our panel against other sample providers and prove, with evidence, where we stand.
How we benchmark
YouGov’s benchmarking studies
Each year, YouGov conducts benchmarking studies across more than 10 major markets in the United States, Europe and Asia. The methodology is carefully controlled: identical samples are drawn from our own panel and from competitors, then evaluated on key measures of representativeness, participation and response quality. This ensures we're comparing like with like.
What’s the value of benchmarking
The real value of benchmarking isn't simply collecting numbers - it's the perspective those numbers provide. The exercise shows us where our panel naturally aligns with census standards and where additional recruitment or weighting is needed. It reveals how we stack up against competitors, allowing us to ground our quality claims in evidence rather than assertion. Critically, it also informs our decisions when external sample is required, helping us identify which partners deliver respondents who look like the population and behave like attentive participants.
Our latest benchmarking exercise, conducted in November 2025, demonstrates why this work matters.
What the data shows
Fraud detection
On fraud detection, the average rate across 12 panel providers was 16.6%. YouGov's rate was 0.6% - nearly 28 times lower. We set ourselves tough internal targets of under 2% and use benchmarking to hold ourselves accountable.
Duplicate respondents
Duplicate respondents present another challenge in an industry where many providers aggregate from dozens of sources to fulfil sample requirements. YouGov collects data exclusively from our own proprietary panel. We don't rent out our panel or aggregate. The benchmarking average for duplicates was 11.4%. Our score was 1.4%.
Age distribution
Age distribution serves as an indicator of potential panel skew, and here too our approach delivers results. Because we own our panel and maintain detailed profiled information, we can employ sample matching methodology - matching sample targets with precision, which leads to lower sample weights and better representativeness.
Benchmarking keeps us honest, focused and evidenced. It's how we prove our quality claim.