Where do I find the feature?
Look for the Baseline feature on the main Overview page or from the global navigation. 
Why would I use this?
The Baseline feature allows you to bring context to an audience snapshot. Seeing how any one audience compares to another helps determine where clusters are differentiated - and therefore where to focus activation, content personalization, partnerships, and more.
When does it apply?
A Baseline can be applied to any report, depending upon your business objective. Choose our supplied Baseline reports or your own to overlay context on anything - e.g. competitors, locations, new followers, personas, partners, or categories.
What exactly is being compared?
The Baseline feature applies an audience-to-audience comparison for context. Two different lenses are provided to nuance and score the report you are viewing against another report: (1) a general audience-to-baseline assessment of distinctiveness (labelled ‘Audience Comparison’), and (2) a more specific cluster-to-baseline assessment of distinctiveness (reflected on each Summary Card).
How are the levels of distinction determined?
The baselining process looks at where the two whole audiences have behaviors in common (‘Audience Comparison’) as well as where each cluster has behaviors in common with the Baseline (see ‘Summary Cards’). The resulting scores are a factor of the overlap found in traits across all stored data (beyond that which gets displayed). The lower the overlap, the more distinction exists. The higher the overlap, the less distinction exists.
Scores are mapped to predefined thresholds of distinction using a 6-point scale. From least to most distinctive, these levels include: Indistinct, Not Particularity Distinct, Somewhat Distinct, Fairly Distinct, Very Distinct, and Extremely Distinct. Clusters remain unscored where no overlapping traits could be found; however, the lack of overlap can generally signal distinction.
How can distinct clusters exist if the overall audience isn’t distinct?
Two otherwise similar audiences (e.g. two competing cola brands, two comedy shows, two fashion retailers, etc.) are expected to exhibit fairly common behaviors on the whole, yet specific clusters can still stand out as nuanced at the segment level. Each Summary Card on the Overview page will be scored for distinctiveness relative to the overlap found in the traits of the cluster compared to the macro baseline audience.
How are Baseline results reflected throughout the report?
Comparison results are shown in all of the following ways:
- the Audience Comparison module on the Overview page,
- the brightness/faintness of clusters in the Audience Visualization,
- the re-ordering of the Summary Cards,
- the black trait lines displayed on Summary Cards when toggled into ‘vs Baseline’ view, and
- the dual dot deltas found from the ‘Baseline’ toggle option in most modules inside the report.
How do I choose which of the two comparison reports to designate as the Baseline?
You can explore any combination and, in any direction, but generally speaking, the intent is to overlay the broader of the two audiences as the ‘Baseline’ to act as the “compared to the population” proxy. For example, overlay ‘Moms’ as the Baseline on a specific packaged goods brand audience, or ‘Movie Fans’ as the Baseline on a specific movie report. Note that although there is an option to toggle from Most to Least nuanced traits within the results on the Overview page, it is not quite the same result as reversing the two reports being compared.
How do Affinio-provided Baselines differ from my own reports?
Affinio provides a selection of generic Baseline reports that can serve as useful comparisons against your own reports. These reports are only made available for the sake of offering contextual metrics, and are not accessible or editable from your main menu.