Moms and Media · October 24, 2011

Will Moms Put Down the Remote to Share the Experience?

By Edison Research

With busy lifestyles and evolving technology geared toward everything mobile, getting a message to Mom via traditional means is becoming dated and often futile.  We know from our Moms and Media: 2011 study that Moms are heavy Internet users, spending more than 2.5 hours online per day.   Logically, getting to them on the Internet is the first step.   However, the standard ads and typical banners are likely to get overlooked, especially on an already crowded site.

Even if she does respond to that ad, it is not necessarily going to leave a distinct impression on Mom.  After all, she’s not looking for the sales pitch; she’s looking for the experience, something special to pass along – in other words, something she can share.   YouTube seems to have this on its radar and is making an effort to bring in more big name advertisers, according this recent piece on nytimes.com.

Of course, conversion of advertising dollars from traditional sources to online videos will be an uphill battle.  Moms, however, could be likely to embrace more modern strategies – especially when they are streamlined into an Internet experience that makes them laugh, cry or even gasp.  Moms respond to that interaction – and will forward video content to a friend if it’s creative and worthy enough.

The Moms and Media: 2011 data shows that Moms do use online video (particularly YouTube) and this seems to be a rising trend, based on our tracking information.  Moms are already highly familiar with this outlet, giving a boost to its advertising chances, and are, in fact, using it regularly.  In our study, nearly one-third of Moms with Internet access said they had watched video programming on YouTube in the last week, and almost half noted doing so in the last month.

Another supporting factor that may help online video advertising take off with Moms is that they are not watching commercials on their DVRs.  Our research supports what the nytimes.com article noted about DVR watchers fast forwarding through commercials – in fact, Moms are especially guilty of this: 82% of moms who often use DVRs said they fast forward almost every time they watch time-shifted programming on their DVR.

 

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