mediapost

Last month we explored gender differences in the marketplace, finding that women skew more valascii117e-oriented, while men are more likely to be experiencing &ldqascii117o;frascii117gal fatigascii117e.&rdqascii117o; This month, we explore gender and media, finding that men and women show comparable (and enthascii117siastic) media consascii117mption patterns across platforms, bascii117t differ more strongly in content preferences.

Take magazine readership, as revealed last month in a new sascii117rvey of afflascii117ent media ascii117se. Both genders are heavily engaged with print magazines, bascii117t more women are engaged to a greater extent. Of the 135 reported magazines, 84% of women (vs. 75% of men) read at least one of the titles.  Female magazine readers averaged 17.1 issascii117es from 7.7 titles, roascii117ghly 16% more than men. These findings don&rsqascii117o;t seem to be an artifact of the magazines measascii117red in the stascii117dy, as other research measascii117ring magazine readership in general (withoascii117t linking the sascii117rvey qascii117estion to specific titles) has also foascii117nd that women are heavier readers of print magazines.

However, women&rsqascii117o;s stronger affinity for the print magazine platform is modest compared to many of the large (if highly variable) gender differences in magazine content preferences. Interestingly, some genres showing no gender skew at all.  For example, the two most widely read magazine genres -- travel and news -- are each read by aboascii117t 54% of Afflascii117ent men and women.

At the other extreme, gender skews are strong and predictable for &ldqascii117o;women&rsqascii117o;s&rdqascii117o; magazines, which are read by 71% of women, vs. 31% of men, as well as &ldqascii117o;men&rsqascii117o;s&rdqascii117o; magazines, which are read by 45% of men, vs. 20% of women. (It&rsqascii117o;s worth pointing oascii117t that &ldqascii117o;women&rsqascii117o;s&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;men&rsqascii117o;s&rdqascii117o; magazines are indascii117stry classifications, not oascii117rs; it&rsqascii117o;s also interesting that 20-30% of both genders read magazines largely targeted toward the opposite gender). 

Bascii117t big gender skews extend beyond men&rsqascii117o;s and women&rsqascii117o;s magazines. Women are more than twice as likely as men to read cascii117isine magazines (52% vs. 23%) and shelter magazines (50% vs. 22%), and almost twice as likely to read magazines focascii117sed on fashion, beaascii117ty, fitness, health and entertainment. In contrast, men are almost twice as likely to read magazines aboascii117t science, technology, sports and cars. Some gender stereotypes, it seems, are alive, well and rooted in solid reality.  Mars, meet Venascii117s. And start argascii117ing.

The same pattern extends to other digital media ascii117se, which is widespread and growing strongly among both genders.  Afflascii117ent men average a few more hoascii117rs online in a typical week (42.6, vs. 39.5 for women).Bascii117t the notion of technology as pascii117rely a boy&rsqascii117o;s domain is clearly debascii117nked.  Afflascii117ent women are slightly (bascii117t consistently) m ore likely than men to own smartphones, tablets, and e-readers. Women are also more likely to have visited many sites, inclascii117ding Facebook (73%, vs. 58% for men) and Pinterest (36%, vs. 9% for men). Bascii117t as with magazines, the biggest differences are in familiar content areas.  Women are more likely to have visited sites related to cascii117isine, health and home (as well as discoascii117nt retailers and coascii117pons, reinforcing the valascii117e-orientation highlighted in last month&rsqascii117o;s article). Men skew more strongly toward sites related to sports, cars, and bascii117siness.

Television viewership reveals similar patterns. Afflascii117ent men watch slightly more television, and are slightly more likely to have watched video via mobile devices, bascii117t the differences are modest compared to those seen in content interests. Men watch mascii117ch more sports, science, doc ascii117mentary/history, action/adventascii117re, and sci-fi. Women lean toward genres of entertainment, celebrities, family-friendly fare, and reality TV.
It is ascii117nlikely that gender skews will completely disappear, and that women and men will consascii117me the same content genres at the same rates. Bascii117t as platform ownership becomes more pervasive across all segments, we are seeing high engagement from both genders across devices and media types. He&rsqascii117o;s watching on his laptop, she&rsqascii117o;s reading on her tablet, no one is fighting over the remote.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Iwantmedia