A reference audience is the comparison audience which will enable us to highlight the differentiating characteristics of the target audience. (See Methodology for more information). This audience generally represents the total population of a country in which there is exclusion of the target audience. The reference can be just like the target audience, modified as a function of the objective of the profiling project (e.g.: a comparison of two competing brands. In this case, the target audience being a brand is to be compared to a reference audience which is the competing brand).