YouGov

YouGov is an international internet-based market research firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

YouGov was founded in the UK in May 2000 by Stephan Shakespeare and Nadhim Zahawi. In April 2005, YouGov became a public company listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.

Stephan Shakespeare has been YouGov’s Chief Executive Officer since 2010. Its Chairman since 2007 is Roger Parry, replacing political commentator Peter Kellner who now serves as President of the company. YouGov's former Chief Executive Officer Nadhim Zahawi resigned from the board to stand in the 2010 General Election and is now a Conservative Party MP for Stratford-on-Avon.

YouGov is a member of the British Polling Council.

Methodology

YouGov specialises in market research through online methods. The company’s methodology involves obtaining responses from an invited group of internet users, and then weighting these responses in line with demographic information. It draws these demographically-representative samples from a panel of 4 million people worldwide including over 750,000 people in the UK. As YouGov's online methods use no field-force, its costs are lower than some face-to-face or telephone methods.