Have you ever heard of Populus Live?

When you check out their site, the first thing you notice is the claim that you will, “Earn £1 for every 5 minutes,” which is a substantial claim to make. If you are an American reader, that equates to about $17 per hour at current time.

Pretty cool, and you only need to be 16 to join!

But, let’s be honest here …

We would certainly love to tell you it is possible for everyone in the UK to make this much. But there are a few details that should be known. Because you really will not earn £12 an hour, but that does not mean you should avoid joining with Populus Live. We will pick apart what you could possibly earn. Do not give up on them yet, there’s a lot of good to say!

Who is Populus Live?

With a name like “Populus Live” people usually know whether they have heard of you before. And for most people — they do not have a sweet clue about this company.

They surfaced in 2010, with basically the same website and marketing scheme. The company is owned by Populus Limited. This is the key to answering who this company is and whether we should trust them.

Populus Limited has been in business for 15 years. They have a reported £2.4 million cash flow and a £2.8 million net worth. Further, they currently have £6 million in assets and £3.4 million in liabilities. In the past year, there has also been an increase in cash flow by about 34% and a decrease in liabilities by over 37%, not bad at all!

If you want to know more, learn about who Populus is in particular. This is a brand monitoring and market research company. This is the forefront of Populus Limited, and the storefront for their major corporate clients.

When going through their site, one thing you will notice is that they run Omnibus surveys — just like YouGov, they send them out once a month. These Omnibus surveys are used to get a better feel for who you are, which allows the site to match you to new survey offers. If you want to make sure you get as many invites as possible, keep up to date on these surveys.

How Much Can You Make at Populus Live?

So you do get rewarded £1 for roughly every five minutes of your time. If that equated to £12 an hour, it would be a nice step up from, say, London’s minimum wage of £9.15 per hour. In fact, it is nearly double that of the rest of what the UK get for minimum wage, which is £7.85 per hour.

But if precious time slips away, your hourly earnings deteriorate.

So here is how it works …

You get £1 for every five minutes it will take to complete the survey. But this is a number mystically created, as an estimated average completion time. Sometimes it will take as long as they estimate, sometimes it will take longer. If you are lucky you will get it done quicker than they expected.

Further, some people can get distracted when doing their surveys and certain questions can be difficult to answer. It could take 10 minutes to finish the 5 minute average time period, which would half your hourly rate. Meanwhile, you might speed through the survey and finish a 5 minute section in just 1 or 2 minutes to double-to-quintuple your earnings.

While it always varies, most survey takers tend to earn around £8 to £12 per hour. This is pretty good for filling out fun surveys online. Plus, many panelists get plenty of survey invites.

UK panelists really have it lucky. This is a survey panel that promises to pay you at least minimum wage level. So you know you have a backup income source if your real-world job ever fails. Plus it makes an easy side income for extra spending money.

Even further … here’s some of the good & the bad about Populus Live!

Pros of Populus Live Paid Surveys

As a Populus Live paid survey panelist, you will be able to make a consistent amount. This is great, no £20 hours but a lot of £10 hours for sure!

Some cool things you will notice along the way …

• With just 50 points, you are entitled to a £50 check on the upcoming payment date. If you get a lot of surveys done, you could make £100’s in a year off this panel alone. It is also completely trusted, so you do not have to worry about whether you will get paid for your time.
• If you sit in front of a computer screen and pound out these surveys, you can find yourself making more than minimum wage. They might dry up fast if you have all the time in the world, but you will definitely score a withdrawal out of it.
• Their testimonials date back to 2011, saying almost nothing but good things about them. In many of these comments, you hear about how it did not take very long to earn their first £50 check. Quite a few went on to earn much more over the years as well. If you are an active survey panelist, it would make sense to add Populus Live into your arsenal.

But, we are not claiming Populus Live is perfect …

Cons of Populus Live Paid Surveys

• You are only rewarded points for completing surveys once the entire survey assignment has ended. This could take only a day, or as much as three months, based on whenever the survey is supposed to close. As a result, you have to keep watch for payment, in case it never arrives — this happened according to one of the testimonial complaints on their site.
• The monthly prize draw only has one winner and a £250 prize is nothing extreme. YouGov actually pays £2,000 to the first place winner, £1,000 to second, £500 to third, and a number of points to fourth through eighth. While YouGov has millions of members, the sweepstakes dream is much greater over there. (Read our YouGov review)
• Some find it hard to reach the £50 minimum, but it does not have to be. These surveys are almost always short and sweet. Take them as much as you can and quickly you will be able to qualify for the minimum withdrawal. Many users already have, and some have made much more off this site!

Other Problems

Okay, one thing people dislike about some paid survey panels is that they disqualify you too often. While this is not the chase with Populus Live, it is possible to get screened out.

Thankfully, when you get screened out you will receive sweepstakes entries. This gives you a chance to win £250 in their monthly draw. It is definitely disappointing to find yourself answering multiple questions, only to lose the £1 or so and get a draw entry as a consolation. But you can quickly hop to the next survey, and if you are lucky you will come out £250 to the good!

Next, it is important to mention that Populus Live may have problems at times but they are usually accountable. In fact, they might be one of the few companies in the world that actually has a real Testimonials page. When you look at it, you will notice plenty of great reviews — and also a few testimonials speaking of errors, a lack of surveys, etc.

Remember, one person’s experience might not be the same as yours. Some people break down into a good demographic. Others are not so lucky. You will have a good feel for whether you have much of a chance at Populus Live within the first few weeks. If things go well, you will be cashing out £50 rather quickly.

Is Populus Live a Scam or Is It Legit?

You will quickly realize there are few paid survey panels servicing the UK that are truly worth your time. One of them is YouGov UK which gives tremendous monthly draw opportunities and features countless paid survey offers. Another is Populus Live, which allows users to quickly earn £50 and cash it out through a variety of ways.

Even back in 2010 when they started out, the same campaign ran: “Earn £1 for every 5 minutes of your time,” nothing has changed. Panelists all around the UK have discussed and reviewed Populus Live on various forums and review sites. In the end, pretty much nothing but good things have been said; the biggest complaint, for some users, is that it could take upwards of a year to earn enough to cash out.

It is fair to say that Populus Live is a legitimate paid survey panel.

Join Populus Live Today!

It is not often that we find a panel with consistently good-paying surveys to offer you guys. So when Elite Survey Sites took the chance to review Populus Live, it was a huge breath of fresh air!

Being a Populus Live panelist does not mean locking yourself in chains and performing slave labor. You get paid fairly for your work; if you are slow on a computer or have other stuff going on around you, then you might not do well. But the vast majority of panelists who work for Populus live are very happy in the end.

Be ready to do at least one or two surveys a week if you want to cash out fast. There are many surveys that are short, which means they do not pay so much. So getting your £50 minimum balance means knocking down many small surveys, and hopefully a few big ones. Thankfully, they compensate for your time no matter how long the survey takes.

Contact Information

Populus
Northburgh House
10 Northburgh Street
London EC1V 0AT

info@populus.co.uk