While men have historically been considered the earliest adopters and heaviest consumers of new technology, this perception does not tell the whole story. At the recent International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), Sabrina Crow, SVP & Managing Director for Media Client Services at The Nielsen Company, discussed how women are just as adept at navigating the new media landscape. The key difference is that women are utilizing new technologies in their own way. In particular, women are most likely to adopt new technology when it is social and relevant—that is, when it seamlessly improves their day-to-day lives.

With many tech products, females—especially younger women—are just as likely to upgrade their consumer electronics as males. A Nielsen survey on high-definition television (HDTV) purchase intent, for example, showed U.S. women aged 18-34 are just as likely to purchase the advanced TVs as men aged 35 and over.

An Economic Force
Technology companies who may have primarily focused on reaching men are missing the fact that niche female groups are just as valuable to marketers. Increasingly, and on a global scale, today’s women are heads of households and they are more educated, more diverse, and more integral to the labor force than ever before. And, they wield an enormous amount of purchasing power .

Engage on Their Terms – Make it Social and Relevant
These trends are especially important considering the evolving media landscape. While television is still the dominant medium, consumers are spending more and more time online and engaging with mobile devices like smartphones. Consumers are actively navigating their media options, and here too, women are displaying specific behaviors. On a social level, it’s no surprise that women talk and text on their mobile devices more than men. Nielsen data shows that women talk 28 percent more and text 14 percent more than men every month; they are also heavier users of social features of phones (SMS, MMS, social networking) compared to men who tend to use functional features more (GPS, email, Internet).

Online, women are more engaged than men, spending more time on fewer sites during a single sitting—a valuable attribute to advertisers. They also visit more social and community sites, which is especially important given the popularity of immediate online/social discussion during major TV events like awards shows and reality programming.

To connect with women, make it social and relevant. Women are much more likely to engage with media that seamlessly integrates and improves their day-to-day lives. For e-commerce marketers, this means women shop online primarily for necessities like groceries, health and beauty items, and clothing. Men, on the other hand, tend to shop online for more discretionary purchases, like music, consumer electronics, and tickets to concerts or sporting events. For television advertisers, this means women tend to watch specials and awards shows live so they can engage in immediate “community viewing” discussions. And they use DVRs to time-shift recurring series programming as they fit television into their schedules when it is most convenient and relevant to them.

While time-shifting is not as high among ethnic groups, we are noting important increases. Among African-American women 18-34, DVR penetration has exploded from 11.3 percent in February 2007 to 37.4 percent today. The same trend is also true among Hispanic women. In 2007, only 10.1 percent of Hispanic women 18-34 owned a DVR, but that number has now tripled, where DVR penetration has reached 32 percent as of February 2011.

Effective Pairing
The Nintendo Wii is a perfect example of a technology product that showcases the social and relevant elements needed to effectively attract women. According to recent Nielsen data, the Wii is the most popular gaming console among women, while men tend to prefer Microsoft’s Xbox. The Wii makes gaming more social by gathering families and friends to play in groups. The Wii is also relevant to women’s lives by offering a wide array of options that allow them to spend quality time with their loved ones while making fitness fun and functional.

As women continue to break misconceptions about technology habits, so too must marketers innovate to create meaningful campaigns that embody the unique way women consume media and technology. With an expanding piece of the economic pie, women are a prime and valuable audience, but only if you can appeal to their sensibilities.

Fast Facts:

• Average Number of TVs per U.S. Household: 2.5
• Percentage of Americans with 4 or more TVs: 31%
• Number of Mobile Phone Users (13+): 228M
• Percentage of U.S. Mobile Subscribers with Smartphones: 31%
• Number of mobile phone web users: 83.2M

For more, download Nielsen’s State of the Media – U.S. Audiences and Devices

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Only 13 percent of total day viewing on cable and 19 percent of viewing on broadcast television is “true HD” viewing, which requires an HD television and HD tuner that are tuned to an HD channel.  In other words, despite the billions of dollars that Americans have spent buying high definition TVs, more than 80 percent of television viewing is still a standard definition experience.  The reasons for this are various:

• 44 percent of homes either do not have an HD set or an HD service.
• Because most HD homes have at least one non-HD TV set, about one-third of programming is viewed on a standard set.
• And even on HD sets, about 20 percent of viewing is through non-HD feeds.

Defining the High Def Viewer
Consumption of HD television varies by genre and age.  More people watch cable sports networks in high definition than watch any type of network, while children’s programming is least likely to be watched in HD.  Yet among age groups, young adults are the most likely to seek out HD programming.

“True” HD Viewing on Cable Networks
(Percentage of Total Viewing in HD)

The rate of adoption of high definition television also varies according to race and ethnicity.  About two-thirds of Asian households are set up to watch HD TV, compared to about half of African American homes.

Looking ahead, programmers and marketers can expect HD viewing to increase as HD penetration continues to expand.  A number of additional factors should drive growth in true HD viewing:

• A kids and teens get HD sets in their rooms, their overall HD viewing will increase.

• As cable and satellite providers substitute HD channels for SD where available, the percent of “true HD” viewing will grow.

• As cable providers require set-top boxes for all sets, HD viewing for cable will expand.

The survey is based on a sample of 1,372 households. Telephone interviews, using a computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) system, were used to collect the information from the sample households. Interviews were conducted with a randomly selected household member at least 12 years old.

Hot Trends:

• Bigger and Better TVs
  Upgraded television sets in the form of bigger screen sizes larger than 41 inches and better resolution continue to outfit in-home theaters. Specifically, HDTV sets have increased 26.9% and LCD flat screens are up 48.2% from Q3 2008 to Q2 2010.

• Home Internet Access
  Internet and broadband access in the home continues to rise – up 2.5% and 3.8%, respectively between Q1 2010 and Q2 2010. Currently, 85.3% of Americans have some kind of Internet access either through home and/or work.

• Home Wi-Fi
  The freedom of untethered connectivity helps the trend to go wireless continue. Having a wireless network in the home increased 8.2% from Q1 2010 to Q2 2010 and 24% over eight quarters.

• Digital Video Recorders
  Demanding schedules have made time-shifted viewing a must-have for 40% of U.S. homes who currently have a DVR device. And DVR adoption continues, increasing 14.5% from Q1 2010 to Q2 2010.

• MP3 Players
  Almost half (46%) of all U.S. homes now have at least one MP3 Player. Apple’s iPod is still the dominant player in this category, capturing 63% of all MP3 Player-owning households.

• Apple iPad
  The Apple iPad launched on April 3, 2010, and was added to the Nielsen Home Technology Report survey shortly thereafter (May 2010). According to the Q2 report, 3.6% of U.S. homes now own an iPad and this hot trend will be closely followed.

Cooling Trends:

• Satellite Radio
  While crystal clear audio, uninterrupted playlists and anywhere access make Satellite Radio an enticing experience, it experienced only modest growth over the past eight quarters, up just 5.5%.

• Video Cassette Recorders
  VCRs continue to disappear from U.S. households as DVRs and DVD players provide both greater functionality and better playback clarity at an increasingly affordable price. Add the fact that U.S. movie studios are no longer releasing movies in the VHS format and you can expect the VCR to become just another trivia question for a digital generation no longer familiar with yesterday’s analog technologies. Currently, VCR ownership within U.S. homes is 70.2%, down 10.6% from Q3 2008 when it was 78.5%.

• Digital Video Disc Players
  DVD players are down 0.6% from Q1 2010 to Q2 2010.  With 87.9% of U.S. homes already owning a DVD player, the “hot” growth phase for DVD players has long passed.

• Personal Digital Assistants
  The PDA is also becoming a rare sight these days within U.S. households. PDA ownership has declined 25.5% since Q3 2008 and will likely continue. Credit the Smartphone that provides both handheld computing capability and a phone for much of the PDA’s steady market share decline.

Fast Facts
There are 115.9 million homes in the U.S. with at least one TV – up roughly 1 million homes from the previous TV season.

Viewing averages
• The average American watches 35:34 (hours/minutes) of TV per week
• Kids aged 2-11 watch 25:48 (hours/minutes) of live TV per week
• Adults over 65 watch 48:54 (hours/minutes) of TV per week

Top Genres

DVR and HD Usage

For the complete view, including to shows and networks from last season, download Nielsen’s State of TV fact sheet.

As of February 2009, slightly more than one-third of American TV homes had at least one HDTV, a marked increase from November 2008, when 29.2 percent of homes had one, and a huge leap from February 2008 when only 19.3 percent of homes had one. Indeed, a separate Nielsen report found that HDTVs were the single most popular home entertainment system purchases during the holidays. Asian households had the greatest penetration – 41.8 percent – while African-American homes had the lowest at 25.9 percent.

Where are people putting their new TV sets? Nearly two-thirds are located in common areas such as the living or family room. In homes with more than one HDTV, the second set is usually located in a master bedroom. This switch to HDTV doesn’t necessarily mean that households are ditching their old standard sets; they are simply re-locating them to other rooms such as bedrooms and the basement, and may use them for a dedicated purpose, such as video gaming. Overall, the average U.S. household now has 2.6 TV sets.

“It’s clear that despite the current economic climate, HD remains on course to become the benchmark in TV viewing. As prices of HDTVs continue to fall — a trend that might accelerate in the current environment — and circumstances such as the digital transition create new opportunities to promote the sets and programming, HDTV will continue to gain a greater foothold in U.S. television homes,” said Steve McGowan, Senior Vice President, Insights and Client Research Initiatives, Nielsen.

Click here to read the full Nielsen HD TV report.

During this period, households with broadcast only (i.e., no cable or satellite service) TVs declined from 11.5 percent to 10.9 percent while cable or satellite service has increased slightly from 88.5 percent to 89.1 percent.  This increase may be related to the upcoming transition to digital television that was originally set to take place in February 2009.

Satellite service grew modestly as well, from 28.0 percent to 28.8 percent.  Cable or satellite service with pay channels, such as HBO, Showtime and Cinemax, has grown steadily over the five quarters, from 47.0 percent to 49.4 percent.

Digital Video Recorders (DVR) have grown in popularity over the last five quarters, with 28.9 percent of households owning a device, up from 21.3 percent in Q4 2007.  20.2 percent of homes have one DVR, while 8.7 percent have two or more devices. Homes capable of receiving high definition television jumped from 12.9 percent on Q4 07 to 23.4 percent in Q4 08.  Video game console ownership increased from 37.8 percent to 39.0 percent, while homes containing personal computers with internet access increased from 70.9 percent to 73.8 percent.  More than 54 percent of households had one or two TVs, 24.9 percent owned three TVs while 20.8 percent owned four or more sets.

“At this point, we have no indication that economic factors are causing homes to cancel their cable subscriptions or cut back on DVR, HD, gaming or Internet capabilities.  These segments have remained steady – or in some cases, increased – over the five quarter period we studied,” said Pat McDonough, senior vice president of Planning Policy & Analysis at Nielsen.  “That said, one factor that may be masking any economic component is the digital transition.  It may have been necessary for some homes to invest in new equipment to prepare for the conversion.”

In terms of device usage, Nielsen found no significant increases or declines in TV viewing, DVR playback, DVD playback or video game console use, suggesting that the economy has had no measureable impact on these activities.

According to a separate Nielsen survey, the Home Technology Report, consumers continue to purchase new technologies for home entertainment.

The Home Technology Report telephonically surveyed 1,433 people in Q4 2008.

Nielsen’s estimates are based on a field staff review that identified TV sets capable of receiving and displaying high definition pictures, as well as those that are actually receiving those signals.

High definition TV penetration in the U.S. has more than doubled since July 2007, when Nielsen began tracking HDTV status.  At that time, only 10% of U.S. homes had access to high definition TV.

Washington, D.C., where 31.1% of homes are HDTV-enabled, has the highest HDTV penetration of Nielsen’s 18 largest local TV markets.  Boston and New York follow, with HDTV penetrations of 30.5% and 30.2%, respectively.  Detroit has the lowest HDTV penetration: 20.9% of homes.

Sporting events have the highest index of viewing in HDTV households, with HDTV receivable and capable homes watching 54% more sports than households that are not HDTV capable.  Political programming and awards shows are also popular with HDTV households.

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings on Contentinople.com and in Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News, and Media Post,

-The most-watched global event ever (2008 Beijing Summer Olympics: 4.7 billion viewers)

-The most-watched Super Bowl ever (Giants-Patriots, Super Bowl XLII: 97.5 million viewers)

-The most-watched cable broadcast of all time (Cowboys-Eagles, Monday Night Football: 18.6 million viewers)

-The most-watched cable golf event of all time (Tiger vs. Rocco, U.S. Open Playoff: 4.8 million viewers)

-The most-watched cable baseball game ever (Red Sox-Rays, ALCS Game 7: 13.4 million viewers)

-The most-watched NBA Finals in five years (Celtics-Lakers, NBA Championship Series average: 14.9 million viewers)

-The most-watched NHL regular season game in nine years; most-watched finals in five years (Winter Classic: 2.5 million viewers; Stanley Cup, Penguins–Red Wings average: 4.5 million viewers)

-The most-watched Wimbledon final in eight years (Federer-Nadal: 5.2 million viewers)

The surge in viewership could be attributed to the dramatic storylines behind these games and events, but Nielsen’s analysis shows that new technology is enhancing the sports fan’s experience:

-Ratings for sports events are 20% higher in homes with high-definition TV sets vs. total U.S.

-75 million people visited sports websites in October 2008

-11.6 million unique users logged more than 1.2 billion minutes on fantasy sports sites in 2008

-10.6 million U.S. mobile subscribers accessed sports content via the mobile Web in August 2008

View the full report.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in USA Today.

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