Marketers should think less about audiences as demographic segments and more about the communities people actively choose to belong to, according to a study by MG OMD and Global.
Belonging in Britain 2026, set to be fully published next month, suggests that while precision targeting has transformed media planning, it has also encouraged marketers to think about audiences in transactional terms.
Based on a nationally representative survey of just over 2,000 UK adults, the research argues that this shift has come at a cost: a narrowing of how audiences are understood, just as people’s sense of identity is becoming more layered and community-driven.
Instead of focusing solely on individuals defined by demographic data, the report urges planners to pay closer attention to the communities people choose to join — from sports fans and gaming groups to local neighbourhoods and pet owner networks.
The directive challenges not just media planning practice, but also the broader notion that Britain is becoming more fragmented. The study finds that 91% of Britons say they belong to at least one community, with the average person now part of four groups, up from three a year earlier. And seven in ten respondents say those communities are important to their identity.
‘We should take some of these media narratives about Britain being divided with a pinch of salt,’ Sophia Durrani, head of strategic planning at MG OMD, tells MediaCat. ‘The UK isn’t as lacking that sense of belonging as it once was.’
Rather than disappearing, she argues, belonging has shifted into spaces that traditional narratives often overlook: sports supporter groups, music fan groups, places of worship, gaming communities and countless other interest-led groups.
‘People are belonging to more communities than ever before,’ she says. ‘The communities we choose to belong to are the ones that really reflect our identity and how we want to be seen.’
The report’s central argument is that marketers should think about audiences through the lens of community rather than relying solely on demographic segmentation. The research found that family, personality, passions, friends and place remain the strongest anchors of identity, outweighing more traditional demographic characteristics such as age and gender. The average person now defines themselves through eight different identity traits, up from seven a year earlier.
‘Demographics aren’t wrong, it’s just that they’re incomplete,’ Durrani says. ‘They’re useful for sizing and buying media, whereas communities are actually really useful for understanding people.’
Understanding the communities people choose to participate in, she argues, reveals far more about their motivations, values and behaviours than traditional audience definitions alone.
‘My neighbours and I all live in the same area. We’re similar ages, we have children of similar ages, similar incomes and similar education,’ she says. ‘But that isn’t what drives what we care about or what we buy. One is passionate about fitness, another about current affairs, another is a reality TV addict and another campaigns around neurodiversity.’
Traditional audience planning would likely group those households together. Community thinking, she argues, reveals their differences. ‘We’re not those cookie-cutter Stepford wives,’ she says. ‘Modern identity is anchored far more strongly in people and passions, personality and place than those demographic labels.’
Rebecca Martin, branded sports commercial director at Global, agrees that demographics remain useful, but says they only tell part of the story.
‘Demographics are important and they still matter,’ she says. ‘But when you start putting the community spin on it, you get much more into the behavioural element – what these people care about, how they behave and what they invest their time and emotion in.’
For brands, she argues, that creates a fundamentally different relationship with audiences. ‘You have permission to actually join in their conversation rather than just sending them a message.’
As media buying becomes increasingly automated, Durrani believes this richer understanding will become a competitive advantage. ‘We’re living in a time when there is so much data,’ she says. ‘We’re almost forgetting that those data points are humans. Communities are a really great way of understanding the humans behind the data points.’
The report points to sport as perhaps the clearest example of this broader trend. Sports supporter groups are now Britain’s largest community, according to the data, overtaking hobbies and interests, while sports clubs have also climbed the rankings alongside music fandoms and health and wellness communities.
Martin argues this reflects a fundamental change in fan behaviour. ‘The biggest shift in sport isn’t what’s happening on the pitch anymore,’ she says. ‘Fan behaviour has evolved from that traditional broadcast moment to people engaging with sport every single day.
‘It’s not just Saturday at 3pm anymore,’ she says. ‘It’s listening to previews on the commute, debating team selections in WhatsApp groups, following athletes on social media and going to live experiences. Those rituals create loyalty and turn into the habits that people form.’
That shift has made sport a particularly valuable environment for brands, not just because it delivers large audiences but because it creates sustained communities built around shared participation.
That changes the role brands can play. ‘The more sophisticated brands are shifting from buying attention to earning recognition by adding value,’ she says.
The report argues that marketers should rethink not only how they identify audiences but also how they behave within those communities. ‘Brands are guests in community environments,’ says Durrani. ‘They’re not the hosts.’
Rather than trying to create communities or simply inserting advertising into moments of heightened attention, brands should look for ways to contribute meaningfully to spaces where trust and relationships already exist.
‘If you’re simply inserting a message into a community moment because attention’s concentrated there, then it’s likely to be more forgettable,’ she says.
Instead, brands should focus on improving experiences, enabling participation, supporting creators or making communities more accessible.
Recent campaigns demonstrate what that looks like in practice. One example sent over by MG OMD was Specsavers’ out-of-home execution around the Oasis reunion, which playfully referenced the Blur versus Oasis rivalry while staying true to the brand’s own positioning. Durrani also highlights Pets at Home’s recent partnership with TalkSport, which used AI-generated pets to reinterpret football commentary during the World Cup, tapping into fan culture in a way that felt distinctive to the retailer rather than simply badging a sponsorship.
Martin, meanwhile, points to Global’s own Up To Speed initiative, which creates short-form content explaining F1 teams, drivers and rivalries for newer fans.
Both agree that the research does not recommend replacing demographics but instead suggests expanding the toolkit available to planners. Communities should inform strategy long before audience targeting begins.
‘It’s not about a targeting line on your media plan,’ says Durrani. ‘It’s about really understanding your audiences.’
As precision targeting becomes the industry standard, she argues, differentiation will increasingly come from understanding not simply who audiences are, but the communities they actively choose to spend time in.
‘The communities people belong to help us understand what they care about,’ she says. ‘And that helps brands connect with them in much more meaningful ways.’