Home Time

Women are spending more time with family and friends at home, coming together for a range of different activities and events. This time is important to them and they are keen to invest in this area.

These findings are taken from IPC’s Origin Panel Home Time research which explores how women spend time with others in the home, covering home entertaining.

The home is central to UK women’s lives – it’s an important social space for their family and friends. The living room is considered to be the social hub of the home by almost three-quarters of women. It is really important that this social hub is comfortable and looks good, and they are prepared to buy new products to achieve this.

The current economic climate has definitely had an impact on women’s entertainment habits. 23% are now spending more time at home compared to a year ago and 50% are spending less on going out. Over half say they are always looking for ideas that will save them money when having events and activities at home.

Every-day activities are just as important as special events for women, with the top 3 home events being drinks & nibbles, take-out nights and dinner parties. Women are the main orchestrators of these get-togethers, from the planning, to the shopping and to the washing-up! This responsibility can lead to stress, so any time (and cost) saving tips they can take advantage of value to them.

Food and home entertainment items (such as DVDs, computer games, etc) are an integral part of home get-togethers, with women being key decision makers in these areas. When it comes to food, two-thirds believe special occasions call for special meals and 61% always try to cook when family and friends come over. Looking at home entertainment, 1 in 5 women are spending more on this area compared to a year ago and they see these purchases as an investment in quality time with family and friends.

Home Time looks at the following about UK women today:

I. Spending time with friends and family at home
• Who they spend time with and the importance of it
• Why they enjoy it

II. Entertaining at home
• The social hub
• The entertaining cycle
- Planning
- Events & activities
- Food
- The aftermath

III. The role of media


To effectively target women advertisers and agencies need to:
• Tap into what is important to them
• Provide them with inspiration on how to make the best of quality time with family and friends at home
• Provide them with time and cost saving tips
• Reach them through trusted sources such as magazines and the internet


The IPC Origin Panel is a major rolling programme of research accessing a nationally representative sample of 7,500 UK women.


For more information on Home Time please contact:

Louise Osilaja, Insight Manager 0203 148 3635 louise_Osilaja@ipcmedia.com
Amanda Wigginton, Director of Insight 0203 148 3636 amanda_wigginton@ipcmedia.com