Internet Usage and Mums in the US

According to newly released data from Jupiter Media Metrix, Internet usage more heavily affects the television viewing habits of women with children than women without children in the USA.

According to the first report from Jupiter's new Online Behavior & Demographics service, 44% of women with children admit that their usage of the Internet decreases the time they spend watching TV. Jupiter analysts forecast that marketers and publishers will have the opportunity to reach more than 49 million women online between the ages of 18 and 49, in addition to another eight million female college and graduate students by 2006.

'Because women with children often have time constraints, and therefore a limited time budget for media consumption, increased use of the Internet is more likely to cannibalize time that was once spent watching television,' said Jon Gibs, Jupiter Research analyst. 'Advertisers and programmers interested in reaching mothers should therefore consider increasing their online marketing efforts relative to TV advertising.'

The debut Report from Jupiter's newly launched Online Behavior & Demographics service - titled 'Demographic Profile: Women Online' - reveals that women with children enjoy using the Internet to play games online (29 percent), download music (29 percent) and conduct research for school and homework-related projects (40 percent). In contrast, women without children are more inclined to turn to the Internet for utility-related activities, such as making travel arrangements (54 percent), doing research for work (41 percent), checking stock quotes (20 percent) and reading the news online (47 percent). In addition to segmenting female Web users by popular online activities, the report examines women's Web site visitation habits, attitudes toward online advertising and online shopping patterns.

'Now more than ever, all companies, regardless of their particular industry or market segment, need to know as much as possible about the online audience and customer,' said Evan Cohen, senior vice president of data research for Jupiter Research. 'Jupiter's Online Behavior and Demographics service provides the baseline understanding of online population trends that businesses are looking for to build targeted marketing strategies.'

Jupiter designed and fielded a survey to online consumers selected randomly from NPD consumer panels in May 2001. A total of 3,150 individuals responded to the survey. Respondents received an e-mail invitation to participate in the survey, with an attached URL linked to the Web-based survey form. The sample was weighted by a series of demographic and behavioural characteristics to ensure that it was representative of the online population. Demographic weighting variables included age, gender, household income, household education, household type, region, and market size. Additionally, Jupiter took the unconventional step of weighting the data by online tenure and AOL usage, two key determinants of online behaviour. The survey data are fully projectable to the US online population within a confidence interval of plus or minus five percent.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

• Jupiter Media Metrix
• All news