In the social web, ladies rule

Jul 29, 2010 by Dan Taylor    4 Comments    Posted under: Social Media

According to a new report released by leading metric provider comScore, social networking sites reach more woman than men globally. Part of their Women on the Web: How Women are Shaping the Internet in-depth analysis, comScore found that 75.8 percent of all online ladies visited a social networking site in May 2010. Conversely, the study found that only 69.7 percent of all men engaged in the same activity.

“Understanding gender-specific differences in Web usage is valuable to any digital stakeholder looking to successfully reach and engage both women and men in the online environment,” said Linda Boland Abraham, comScore chief marketing officer and executive vice president for global development. “We have seen that women across the globe share some similar usage patterns online, such as strong engagement with social networking sites, but it’s also important to understand gender differences on a regional, country and local level, where cultural differences are continually shaping online usage and content consumption.”

How much

In a bit of a paradox, comScore found that while women have higher levels of engagement with social networking sites when compared to their male counterparts, they only account for 47.9 percent of the total unique visitors in the social networking category. However…females consume 57 percent of all social networking pages, and 57 percent of all minutes spent on these sites. When viewed in hours and seconds, on average, females spend 5.5 hours per month with a social networking site, men, on average 4 hours.

Where

Since comScore conducted a global survey, they’re able to pinpoint where the social networking ladies lie. They survey found that the highest concentration of social networking females can be found in Latin America, where a staggering 94.1 percent of females are engaged in online activities. Just slightly behind are North American women, showing with 91 percent. Europe takes 3rd, with 85.6 percent of its female population visiting a social networking site in May 2010. Ending up in last place is the Asian Pacific female with only 54.9 percent, however comScore does point to the limited broadband penetration in this region of the globe

Additional findings

• Although men are in the majority across the global Internet, women spend about 8 percent more time online, averaging 25 hours per month on the Web.
• Globally, women spend 20 percent more time on Retail sites overall than men. Among the various retail sub-categories, Comparison Shopping and Apparel sites reached the highest percentage of women at 24.8 percent and 18.7 percent, respectively, in May 2010.
• In the U.S., women are more avid online buyers than men, with 12.5 percent of female Internet users making an online purchase in February 2010, compared to 9.3 percent of men.
• Health sites show some of the largest overall differences in reach between female and male, with a nearly 6-point gap between global women and men.
• In most countries women spend far less time watching online video than men, but women spend a much higher share of their time watching videos on YouTube than men.
• In both the U.S. and Europe, smartphone usage is dominated by men with both markets experiencing close to a 60/40 split in smartphone adoption between the genders.

For a complete copy of the Women on the Web: How Women are Shaping the Internet, please visit:

www.comscore.com/WomenOnTheWeb

U.S. Mobile Gamers Smartphone Data

Apr 16, 2010 by Dan Taylor    1 Comment     Posted under: Games

Industry leading metrics firm ComScore recently released their mobile gaming study data, with some interesting results. Although ComScore found a 13 percent drop in the number of U.S. mobile gamers over the past year, the same study saw mobile gaming on smartphones surge: up 60 percent. ComScore point out that the overall decline in mobile gamers is driven primarily by a 35 percent decline in mobile gaming on feature phones, which currently dominate the market with 80 percent.

“Although the number of mobile gamers has declined in the past year, there is reason for significant optimism about the future of this market,” said Mark Donovan, comScore SVP Mobile and senior analyst. “As the market transitions from feature phones to smartphones, the dynamics of gameplay are also shifting towards a higher quality experience. As a result, we can expect to see a profound increase in adoption of this activity, both in terms of audience size and overall engagement.”

Smartphone owners are heavy on mobile games

The ComScore data also found that smartphone owners are three times more likely than feature phone owners to play games on their device at least once a month. These same smartphone owners are more than five times more likely to play games almost every day.

Perhaps owing to the ease, smartphone owners also install significantly more games on their devices with 27.3 percent having installed at least one game, as compared to feature phone owners, who came in at a paulty 5.6 percent. Moreover, 33 percent of smartphone owners that install games have more than five games on their phone at any given time. By contrast, less than 1 percent of feature phone owners have more than 5 games installed.

“Smartphones offer a more accessible and compelling mobile gaming experience that is enabling adoption of this behavior, even among consumers who have not traditionally been gamers,” added Donovan. “Marketers and advertisers ought to be paying close attention to the opportunity this presents for reaching consumers in new and engaging ways in a cross-platform environment. The potential for highly creative marketing efforts is exciting.”

Arcade Puzzle games take top priority

In each area of gaming surveyed, smartphone owners are playing the pants off their feature phone counterparts. The games genre with the highest usages among smartphone owners is Arcade Puzzle games, garnering 12.9 percent of the market. Second place belongs to Card games (11.9 percent), Word/Number games in third (11.4 percent), Casino games scores fourth on players’ go-to list (7.6 percent), and Retro Arcade titles round out the top five (6.3 percent).

Casual vs. Hardcore

The ComScore study found that while casual games have a higher penetration rate over hardcore gaming titles and genres (sports, racing, action/adventure, FPS), the hardcore games exhibit a significantly higher adoption rate among smartphone owners.

Baby Boomers flock to Social Networking in 2009

Feb 1, 2010 by Dan Taylor    3 Comments    Posted under: Social Media

There’s no arguing that 2009 was a banner year for online social networking platforms. Obviously, the big players in the field, Facebook and Twitter, saw a healthy increase in user activity. A new report from eMarketer might just point to the reason why: Baby Boomers went from online consumers of digital media to social busy-bees.

The report analyzes 4 unique market segments, Millenials (14-26), Gen X (27-43), Baby Boomers (44-63) and Mature (63-75). Not surprisingly, both Millenials and Gen X ‘ers (myself included) have maintained consistently high levels of social media profiles over the past three years. Conversely, Baby Boomers and Matures saw a massive growth rate in 2009.

Looking at the numbers, 31 percent of Baby Boomers and 14 percent of Matures actively attended to (i.e. status updates, photo uploads, etc.) their profiles in 2008, while one year later, these numbers have seen a significant jump: 46 percent and 36 percent, respectively, in 2009.

With data drawn from both comScore and Anderson Analytics, Facebook came out on top as the primary social network used by Baby Boomers. MySpace took second place, but appears to be more popular with younger users (ed: still?). Third and fourth place went to Twitter and LinkedIn.

“Creating and renewing personal connections online is the biggest draw for these boomers,” said Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Boomers and Social Media. “Boomers expect that technology will help them live longer and better lives and keep them connected to family, friends, co-workers and, eventually, healthcare providers.”

What is, and should be, of interest to marketers is how this growth has scaled, and what or how do we target this influx of a completely different demographic? Targeted advertising immediately comes to mind, but my guess is that there are a number of opportunities waiting to be mined with this new information. Social/Casual gaming has been a major driver of social network use in the ‘younger’ set – is there a way to replicate this same success for an ‘older’ demographic? A recent study by Q Interactive points to the fact that female gamers make up a sizable portion of all social games played, AND that they’re brand engaged, loyal consumers. My guess is that over the course of 2010 we’ll see a new breed of applications, games, tools, etc. appearing on social networks that will try to appeal to this new-comer demographic.