WOMEN AND THE WEB

By Pam Shane

In 2007, women became more than 50% of online users!

So it’s not just a boys’ game anymore.  According to a ComScore Media Metrix report, “women’s community” was the most visited and fastest growing internet category, tied with politics.  The number of unique visits to women’s community sites jumped 35% to almost 70 million, up from 52 million.

ComScore saw strong growth for both Glam Media and iVillage visits in 2007.  There has been a surge of “mommy” blogs and a global rise in female bloggers, too.

Now the question is, what do women want?  Advertising Age studied many surveys and studies to come up with these answers:

SHOPPERS – More than 54% of women shopped online in the first half of 2007.  What did they buy?  In order of popularity:  travel, adult clothing, health & beauty products, children's clothing, financial products and groceries.

More affluent women shopped online – 68% of those with household incomes of $100,000 or more compared to 49% of women in households making less than $35,000.

Impulse buys were strongest among women 45 to 54 who responded to limited-time offers or extra free items, according to a December survey by GSI Commerce.

MOMS – More than 43 million moms go online daily and spend an average of 85 minutes, according to ComScore.  BabyCenter reports they can be very active: While 3% of women 18 and older blog daily and 8% visit blogs, 7% of BabyCenter users write blogs daily and 15% read them daily.

Moms monitor their kids’ activities online.  A Harris Interactive poll last fall found that 93% of parents have taken steps to make sure their kids viewing meets the parents’ approval standards.  Moms & dads have different standards:  80% of moms feel it is inappropriate for a child to create a searchable online profile or web page vs. 65% of dads.  Sixty-four percent of dads think online gaming with others is okay, while only 46% of moms agree.

Country and AC stations take note:  do you link to mom and parenting sites?  Do you have a place on your site for moms and dads to tell fun or helpful parenting stories? 

RESEARCH

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GAMERS – The latest research from the Casual Game Association shows that the casual-gaming audience is 49% men to 51% women.  Women are more likely to pay for the casual games they want, however:  nearly three-fourths of the paying audience were women.

NEWBIE YOUTUBE-ERS – Women are catching up to men in online-video watching.  The January Pew Internet and American Life study revealed that 43% of women have visited a video site such as YouTube vs. just 27% one year ago.

Women watch more frequently, with 11% of women surveyed saying they had visited “yesterday” vs. just 5% who said so at the end of 2006.  That’s still behind men – 20% report they watch video daily.

SINGLES – In December, Jupiter Research found that the majority of single women using the internet are between 25 and 34; 48% have a college degree.

They are more likely to watch full-length TV shows and video clips online than other women.  These single women often search for local dining and entertainment information, use instant messaging, visit social-networking sites, read blogs and download music.

If your radio station targets younger women, be sure you have local entertainment information easily accessible.  How about making the hot new song of the week available as a download?

DATING – women love to online date, they just don’t want people to know about it.  A University of Manitoba study found that while many women say online dating has been a meaningful experience they also think it’s for losers.

Maybe Brad Paisley read this study before he wrote “Online,” because research by Jeffrey Hancock at Cornell found that 59% of women lie about their weight online vs. 60% of men.  Women lied bigger, it seems, as they tended to shave off about 10 pounds while men only took off two!

HEALTH – almost 84% of all women sought health information online vs. 72% of men, according to a BurstMedia survey.  This category is age-driven:  more than 90% of women between 25 and 34 turn to the net; this drops off to 75% once you hit the 65+ group.

Women are more likely than men to use the internet as their primary health resource; 50% say they turn to the net more than they consult their doctors in this study.