TV Influence on Online Product Purchases Varies by Gender, Age

May 1, 2012

nielsen-online-purchasing-of-products-featured-on-tv-april2012.jpgAmong adults who use the internet while watching TV, women are more likely than men to purchase a product online that was featured on TV, details Nielsen [download page] in an April 2012 report. In fact, with an index score of 112, they are 12% more likely than the average US adult online to purchase online a product featured on TV. Men, by contrast, lag behind the average with an index score of 86. There is a significant gap in response rates when it comes to age, too: adults aged 25-54 are 29% more likely than the average US adult to buy a product online that was featured on TV, while those 55 and over trail distantly, with an index score of just 70.

According to an ExactTarget survey of online consumers released in April 2012, TV influence is highest among the 15-17, 25-34, and 45-54 age groups, with 59% of each demo reporting being swayed to make a purchase on account of a TV commercial. This compares to just 40% of 55-64-year-olds, and 46% of those 65 and over.

Female Tablet Owners Also More Receptive to TV Ads

Data from Nielsen’s “State of the Media: Advertising & Audiences, Part 2” indicates that these gender and age patterns extend to tablet owners, too. For example, while watching TV, female tablet owners in Q4 2011 were 12% more likely than male owners to look up product information for an ad they saw on TV (28% vs. 25%), and 14% more likely to look up coupons or deals related to an ad they saw on TV (24% vs. 21%).

Looking at age groups, 18-34-year-olds were most likely to look up coupons or deals related to an they saw on TV, at more than twice the rate of those 55 and over (29% vs. 14%). And while a similar proportion of the 13-17 (29%), 18-34 (28%), and 35-54 (27%) groups reported looking up product information for an ad they saw on TV, the proportion fell to just 22% among the 55 and over group.

Other Findings:

  • Examining the share of prime time viewing accounted for by different genres, the Nielsen report finds that for the 2011/2012 season-to-date (9/21/11 – 1/29/12), dramas account for 46.9% of all female viewing, compared to 34.5% of male viewing. Reality also accounts for a larger share of prime time viewing for women than men (17.8% vs. 12.9%), with sports far more dominant among men than women (32.7% vs. 13.5%).
  • For the season-to-date, 18% of Asian TV viewers’ prime time viewing is timeshifted, compared to 16.5% for whites and 8.8% for African Americans.
  • Asians were 32% more likely than the average to watch video on Hulu in 2011, and 22% more likely to watch video on Netflix.
  • Females spend 61.2% of their timeshifted viewing during prime time watching dramas.
  • Adults aged 18-34 are 82% more likely than the average US adult to build or update a personal blog, 75% more likely to become a fan of or follow a celebrity, and 55% more likely to become a fan of or follow a brand.
  • The most popular activity performed by tablet owners while watching TV is to check email during a program (61%), with women more likely than men to do so (64% vs. 58%). Overall, 69% of tablet owners in Q4 2011 said they watch TV and use their tablet simultaneously at least several times per week, compared to 12% who said they never do.
  • Daily time spent watching live TV during prime time is up this year across every demographic (age, gender, race) studied. Adults aged 55 and over watch the most live TV during prime time on a daily basis, at 1 hour and 43 minutes.
  • Teenagers use their game consoles for an average of 8 minutes per day during prime time, more than twice as long as the general population.
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