Insights of Women Online
The findings come from Women's Space, research from IPC Media's ground-breaking Origin Panel - a major rolling programme of research using a unique 7,500-strong panel of UK women.
Women's Space, focusing on understanding UK women online, also highlights the average time spent on the Web - 105 minutes, with an average of nine sites visited per session. Meanwhile, mornings and late evenings are the key times to reach UK women online, while usage is prompted by both functional and emotional motivations - with the key online applications including social networking, dating and photo sharing.
The Origin Panel was launched in July, creating a major new rolling research study of UK women, designed to provide a continuous channel through which to understand teh evolving attitudes and behaviour of women across the country. The Origin Panel provides a unique opportunity for on-going dialogue with a panel of over 7,500 nationally representative UK women.
Contrary to widely-held perceptions, the overwhelming majority of UK women believe they are knowledgeable about the Internet (67%), while 25% are early-adopting web-veterans. Only 8% of women clasify themsevles as online novices, with less than two years of surfing-experience.
Women's Space has also identified six core groups of women online, distinctive in their attitudes towards the INternet.
- Miss Duress (18%) - at the beginning of her internet journey, but keen to get to grips fast to keep up with the kids
- Mrs Functional (14%) - an experienced online user with a no-nonsense approach, gets what she needs when she needs it
- Miss Fanatical (16%) - does everything she can online, she's receptive to everything the web has to offer, including advertising
- Mrs Positive (18%) - considers herself knowledgeable and receptive, but always looking to improve her understanding of the net
- Miss Easy Life (16%) - an experienced online user, she's motivated by sites and applications that make her life easier, but she also loves to browse and research
- Miss Relaxation (18%) - serious about having fun, she uses the internet primarily as a source of leisure and entertainment
IPC Insight is the division of IPC Advertising responsible for spearheading ocnsumer research across iPC Media - including the Origin Panel. Amanda Wigginton, group head of Insight, says "What women are doing online is a hugely testing question for a vast array of brands. There simply hasn't been the data to illustrate how UK women use the web."
"Through the Origin Panel we have been able to comprehensively address that knowledge gap, examining the types of women online, the extent of their digital evolution, and the breadth of uses they find for the web. Contrary to many people's old-fashioned perceptions, online is very definately Women's Space, and we will be working with this wealth fo insight to help key clients and agencies to assess how best to target and engage their core audiences."
The Origin Panel plans to conduct its Women's Space research on an annual basis, building over time a comprehensive vision of the online evolution of UK women.
For more information on the above, on women & the web and on motivating online users, please contact Amanada Wigginton .
Offline, IPC's peerless portfolio of women's magazines - including Marie Claire, In Style, woman&home, Essentials, Now, Look, Chat, Pick Me Up, Woman, Woman's Own and Woman's Weekly - reaches over 79% of UK women. And 2007 has seen IPC develop and launch a number of high profile new online brands for women including UK fashion and celebrity webstie www.instylemagazine.co.uk, definitive online homes portal www.housetohome.co.uk, essential web destination for UK women www.goodtoknow.co.uk
