Women Online

Some 80% of women are online between 7 a.m. and midnight, with 53% of those age 65+ online between midnight and 7 a.m. During the day, only one-third are using the Internet for personal use, but that rises to 52% between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The majority of women (63%) say they are first in line to use the computer at home.

Most women (54%) have shopped online in the previous six months, with this same percentage saying the Internet is their primary source when researching products.

Perceptions of Marriage

Today, 36.8% of U.S. births are to unmarried women, up from 28.0% in 1990 and 5.3% in 1960, per the Pew Research Center. In 2007, the typical unmarried mother was more likely to be White than Black, to be an adult instead of a teenager, and almost as likely to be living with the child's father as not.

The decline in marriage rates (50% today versus 60% in 1970) is partly responsible for these types of births. Another reason is the changing opinion on the purpose of marriage. Some 65% say that marriage is about the mutual happiness and fulfillment of two adults, while 23% believe it's about having kids, and 7% say it is both.

In 1960, 65% of Americans thought that having children was important to a successful marriage. The percentage who agreed with that view dropped to 41% by 2007.

Brand Talk: Teens and Adults

Teens aged 13-17 have three times as many word-of-mouth conversations per week about brands than adults (77 mentions vs. 22 mentions). Adults are more likely than teens to talk positively about these brands (64% vs. 58%).

Mobile Advertising

During 2007, advertisers spent about $164 million reaching consumers on their mobile devices. This amount is expected to drastically increase to $2.3 billion by 2011. Only 10% of consumers have the right technology and mobile service subscription to receive all six current types of mobile ads.

The six types of mobile ads are:

1. Mobile coupons (56.5% of dollars spent on mobile advertising) - picture and text coupons that act as traditional coupons, giving consumers a discount or a free item with a purchase.
2. Mobile videos (15.1%) - ads designed for consumers to watch on their mobile phones.
3. Mobile display (6.5%) - ads on mobile websites similar to those found online that aren't part of the content of the page being viewed.
4. Mobile search (1.2%) - ads that help consumers find a brand or company's mobile website.
5. Proximity advertising (8.2%) - ads that take advantage of technology to deliver ads based on when a consumer is in a particular area, such as close to a retail location.
6. Text and multimedia messaging (12.5%) - ad messages sent via text or multimedia short messaging service.

Essential Media

Americans say television is the most essential medium (36%), more so than Internet (33%), radio (17%) and newspapers (10%). Those between the ages of 12 and 17 are more likely to choose the Internet (46%) over television (31%), with those aged 65+ choosing television (47%) over the Internet (14%). The chart below details preferences for several age ranges.

Radio Music Trends

While Country music has increased in popularity, other music types are getting less air time on American radio stations. The chart below details the changes.

Online Healthcare

The vast majority of U.S. adults (78%) go online to find health information, with women (84%) more likely than men (72%) to do so. Even though the older populations have more health problems, the age group most likely to seek health resources online is women age 25-34 years old, with 46% doing so weekly. Surprisingly, 44% of men aged 18-24 (44%) do the same.

Consumers (40%) say that their doctors are their primary resource for information on prescription and over-the-counter drugs, compared to 35% who look to family and friends, and 30% who seek it from websites.

Boomers Caring For Parents

Some 41% of Baby Boomers with living parents are now providing financial or personal care assistance to one or both parents. Fewer than one-half of those who are providing help say it has caused them "some" or a "great deal" of stress.

Of the boomers who aren't providing care for parents, 37% think they will someday. One-half of them are concerned about their ability to do so.

A study by the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP shows that 61% of people who voluntarily care for the elderly - in most cases, their own relatives - are women. And, for a typical unpaid caregiver who has a regular job, the care required by an elderly relative forces her to cut the hours she works at her regular job by about 41%, which reduces her pay and benefits. At the same time, unpaid caregivers who contribute their own money spend an average of $2,400 a year on care.

Marketers' Greatest Challenges

A recent survey by The Creative Group shows that 85% of advertising and marketing executives think their jobs are more difficult today than 10 years ago. Reasons given included the fact that the media environment has become more fragmented and that they must use a larger array of tools (social media, branded entertainment, etc.) to reach their target audiences. The following chart lists their biggest career challenges.

Americans Want Companies to Address Environmental and Social Issues

According to research by Ipsos Public Affairs, more than three-quarters of American adults (77%) think that companies have a responsibility to improve the environmental and social impact of their products and services. Some 60% believe that companies don't pay enough attention to those responsibilities.

One in five consumers (19%) has bought a product because it has a link to a charitable organization, and 15% have chosen a product because of the company's ethical reputation. Some 16% have boycotted a company based on ethical reasons.

American Workforce

As of May 2007, there were 152.8 million Americans in the labor market. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the following statistics for the workforce.

• 10.6 million are self-employed
• 7.6 million have more than one job
• 4.8 million work from home
• 8% of workers put in 60 or more hours each week · Four is the median number of years an employee has been with their current employer.
• 71% of workers have access to medical insurance, 46% to dental care, 29% to vision care, and 64% to prescription drug coverage.

Bullets

• About 18% of online Americans own a GPS system; another 24% are planning to buy one within the year. Those with a portable GPS use it when hiking (18%), walking (16%), boating (14%), biking (7%), running (6%) and flying (4%).
• One in four residents (40.5%) of Minneapolis-St. Paul volunteers in their community; this is the largest proportion in any metro area. Residents of Las Vegas (14.4%) are least likely to volunteer.
• Women (45%) are more likely than men (27%) to kiss their pets.
• African Americans attend more movies (9.0) per year than Hispanics (8.0) or Whites (7.1). The 22% of moviegoers who own four or more home entertainment technologies and/or subscriptions, attend an average of 10.5 films per year. Those with fewer technologies and/or subscriptions only see an average of 7.1 films.
• The majority of Americans (52%) say that our country needs to reduce energy consumption in order to address environmental problems. Suggestions include using energy-efficient products (18%), buying smaller or more fuel-efficient cars (13%) and driving less (10%). They also want the government to take action by developing alternative fuels (19%), addressing global warming (16%), and establishing tougher emissions standards (10%).
• U.S. automakers accounted for less than one-half of American auto sales for the first time ever in 2007. Sales dropped 12.3% compared with 2006.
• The average American is more likely to go to a restaurant to eat ethnic foods (41%) than to make it themselves at home (29%). Some 13% eat takeout ethnic foods from a grocery store and 3% eat ethnic foods from a mall food court.
• The average 30-year-old woman owns 21 handbags and buys a new one every three months. About 5% own more than 100 handbags.
• One-quarter of women (24%) have taken women-only vacations during the prior three years, and 36% plan to take one within the next three years. Some 70% do so to bond with friends and family, 65% go to escape their daily responsibilities, and 34% want a break from their significant other.
• Online newsreaders read, on average, 75% of each article they click on. Print readers, in comparison, read less than 30%. While only 22% of online readers look at graphics, 45% look at the ad banners.
• The average consumer takes 34 hours and 19 minutes from the time they first visit an online retailer to the time they make a purchase. This is up from 19 hours and 11 minutes in 2005, and is due to consumers shopping around for better prices and data security.
• Some 90% of Internet users "moderately" or "highly trust" information from online acquaintances, while only 4% highly trust information from vendors or advertisers.
• U.S. advertising spending on social networking websites is expected to reach $1.38 billion in 2008, up from $900 billion in 2007 and $350 billion in 2006.
• Only 15% of mobile phone users access the Internet with their phones; this number is expected to jump to 40% in the next two to three years.
• Almost one-half of consumers (47.2%) say that magazines are more likely than other media to get them to do an online search, compared to broadcast television (42.8%), newspapers (42.3%) and cable television (34.9%).
• Almost one-half of consumers (48%) have more than one personal e-mail address, but 19% give their work e-mail to marketers.
• Only 8% of Americans did not visit a fast food restaurant in 2006.
• People pour 22% more from larger packages, such as jumbo boxes of breakfast cereal.
• Three-quarters of adult caregivers (76%) say they enjoy their responsibilities, with 54% having bonded with the person they are caring for more than they had anticipated.
• Programs for quitting smoking are offered by 54% of companies with 500+ employees (54%), 37% of those with 100-499, and 29% of those with fewer than 100 employees.
• Four in ten teens admit to speeding when they drive.
• The average number of days a person spent in the hospital was 4.8 in 2005, compared to 7.8 in 1970.
• The majority of men and women age 57-85 are sexually active. Those aged 57-64 are most likely to be active (73%), along with 53% of those aged 65-74 and 26% of those aged 75-85.
• Fewer than one-quarter of people addicted to alcohol (24%) get treatment. For those who do seek treatment, they don't do so until age 30 on average - approximately eight years after they developed a dependence.
• There is a violent, sexual, or profane incident on television once every 3.5 minutes of non-commercial airtime during the "family hour" of 8 p.m. - 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. on Sunday.
• About 75% of physicians frequently or sometimes give out samples of prescription medications to their patients. Only 28% of recipients were poor, whether insured or not, with incomes less than twice the federal poverty level.
• Up to one in 150 children born in the U.S. show some evidence of the social and learning difficulties that characterize autism. In the 1960s, the incidence was only one in 2,000.
• Employees overall (62%) are less likely than executives (70%) to think their company does a good job of rewarding employees for good performance.
• The number of blogs has increased nearly 15-fold to 113 million, up from 7.8 million in March of 2005. Each day, bloggers post more than 1.6 million entries, an 18-fold jump from 90,000 in 2005.
• Seven in 10 women bosses (71%) say that they have to work harder and be smarter than men just to get the same respect in the workplace; 36% of men agree that women need to do more to get equal respect.
• Three-quarters of business executives (76%) don't think that laws should be passed to equalize the gender pay gap in the U.S., where women make $0.77 for every $1.00 a man makes.
• More than four in 10 online shoppers (43%) cancelled their purchase at checkout; the most common reason was they thought the shipping costs were too high (48%).
• An estimated 30 million Americans (approximately 20% of the U.S. workforce) are employees who spend significant hours each month working outside of a traditional office. Instead, they work from home or public places like cafes or libraries. Their numbers are growing 10% annually as corporations are increasingly supportive of teleworking for reasons that include saving money on office space and needing a backup in the event of a natural disaster.