The average UK mother spends 9.7 hours a month on Facebook

"The very first thing that half of all mums do when they wake up in the morning is check Facebook, according to new research.
According to BabyCentre’s 2013 Social Mum Report, produced in partnership with ComScore, mothers are more addicted to their morning Facebook fix than the general population.
By contrast, just a quarter of the general population check Facebook first thing in the morning.
The average mum spends 9.7 hours a month on Facebook. A growing number of  year on year among mothers.
Unveiling the report at the British Museum yesterday, Mike Fogarty, senior- vice president and global publisher at BabyCentre, said: "More than any other audience group, social media is so much a part of a mum’s life, that checking her various social platforms comes even before enjoying her first cup of coffee in the morning. Social media has become so pervasive, it’s now fundamental to the way today’s mums live their lives."
The report supports the view that niche and special interest networks are poised to become a core marketing channel for brands. It also reveals that, while posts from a friend are considered 27% more influential than posts from a brand, posts from another mum are 73% more influential than posts from a brand.
2013 Social Mum Report: Key Statistics
Mums are 15% more likely to use social media regularly compared to the general population and on average will spend 8.0 hours a month on Facebook, 5.1 hours a month on YouTube and 4.4 hours a month on Tumblr.
Tablet ownership rates amongst mums have seen a 183% growth year on year and smartphone ownership is also up (by 13%)
Mums are 34% more likely to spend online that the average online adult
Half of mums have bought something because a brand posted a voucher or shared an offer on a social network, and over a quarter of mums say that they have made a purchase because they saw a sponsored ad on a social network."
Source:  Marketing Magazine, 12th June 2013
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New mothers spend 35% more time online than the general population

"Research from BabyCentre, the online and mobile resource for new and expectant mums, suggests that mothers spend 35% more time online than the general population.
Internet usage after becoming a mother increases by 45%, email by 31% and mobile by 28%, according to the survey. On the flipside, magazine readership declines by 55%, while TV viewing slumps by 36%.
The smartphone quickly becomes the mother's significant other: 36% of women purchase a smartphone as a result of becoming a mum, while 59% of mothers called it their "do-everything device".
Respondents said they feel more guilty (+186%), rushed (+121%), and stressed (+39%) when shopping compared to how they felt pre-children. As a result of this shift, 62% said they prefer to do all their shopping online.
It is not just media consumption habits that change when children arrive: 68% of women change their purchase criteria for everything, including clothing, beauty products and cars."

Source:  Marketing, 3rd April 2013

American mothers' device ownership compared to the general population

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Source:  BabyCenter - The 2012 American Media Mom

Young fathers in America spend more on media than young mothers

"Young Dads …
Spend more money than Mom. Young fathers spend $400 a month on media, $100 more than young moms
Have cleaned up their act. 70% say the type of media they consume is more family-friendly
Give advice. 54% share advice with their friends and family about CPG products. 81% share advice about tech products
73% of young dads use social networking sites to communicate with others over the course of a typical week; 94% (of these social networking users) use Facebook for this purpose. 40% of young dads rely on internet voice/video calling to communicate, with the most popular being Skype (72% of voice/video calling users).
Are still gaming. But 79% use their console for streaming movies and other family-friendly content
Are brand loyal. 50% consider themselves loyal to a particular brand within the auto and tech categories
Use search. Online search and word-of-mouth influence decisions in the tech, telco, auto, CPG and financial categories
Pre-Family Men …
Spend $350 a month on media, $60 more than pre-family women
Give advice. 72% give advice to their friends and family about tech products
Are influenced by media. 66% are influenced by TV advertising, while 50% are influenced by online advertising and 44% are influenced by online search results
Spend the most time online researching autos . 44% of them are loyal auto and tech enthusiasts
Spend 10+ hours a day multitasking between their PC, smartphone, tablet and gaming console
Love gaming. 75% spend more than 7 hours a month gaming or using their console to download movies and other content"
Source:  Research by Microsoft, reported in a blog post, 24th April 2012

The technology use of American mothers

"BabyCenter®, LLC, the #1 pregnancy and parenting mobile and web destination worldwide, today released its 2012 American Media Mom report, the latest installment of BabyCenter's 21st Century Mom® Insights Series. At an exclusive gathering of media industry luminaries at the Time Warner Center this morning, the research detailed the dramatic reshaping of the family media ecosystem. The findings were the result of in-home interviews with moms, survey research among over 2,500 moms and other online adults, and a three-screen behavior analysis with Nielsen.
Mom uses the latest digital devices as necessities—not luxuries—to help her master the changing media landscape for herself and her family as she takes on the new role of Family Media Manager. Compared with the general population, moms over-index on ownership and usage of EVERY digital device, including laptops, digital cameras, DVRs, and gaming consoles. In particular, she is 38% more likely than the general population to own an Internet TV device (e.g. Apple TV, Roku), 28% more likely to use a tablet, and 38% more likely to own a smartphone.
[...]
While smartphones continue to be Mom's "remote control for her life," new media disruptors are taking center stage. Tablets, Internet TV, and online video are drastically reshaping the family media experience. Compared to three years ago, over one third of the general population says that they are spending less time watching live TV or reading magazines or newspapers. This pattern is even more exaggerated for Moms – they are 2/3 more likely to say that they spend less time with live TV and radio. And, moms are more than 50% more likely to say that they are spending more time with online video and internet TV than the general online population.
In the year since we unveiled BabyCenter's 21st Century Mobile Mom® Report, smartphone adoption among mothers has increased another 10 percent to 65%. According to Nielsen's Mobile Insights data from Q4 2011, Mom smartphone owners are more likely to use their devices to their fullest capacities than the general population. For instance, she is texting and using social media on her mobile device at a higher rate. Mom is also 53% more likely to use mobile banking applications and 58% more likely to shop via her mobile phone compared to the general population.
The Family Media Manager Runs the Show
[...]
Whether it's watching her favorite shows during some downtime, doling out her kids' YouTube playlist during a long car trip, or tapping into her social graph for opinions on products and services when she's in-store, she will adopt the formats that allow her to maximize her time. According to Nielsen's behavioral data, Mom's spend twice as much time online monthly: 66 hours versus 33 hours for the general population, and spends 63% more time streaming online video. We also found that Mom is 45% more likely to use social media regularly compared to the general population. In short: flexibility and efficiency rule Mom's media day.
More Devices = More Media
It is not a zero sum media game for moms. Multiple devices do not seem to be taking away time from any one media platform. On average, moms are spending 10.9 hours daily with media. According to the 2012 American Media Mom report, those who own an Internet TV device spend over 3 additional hours with media, and moms who own a smartphone, tablet AND Internet TV device are spending over 7 additional hours with media—which adds up to over 17 hours per day—in large part because of mom's heightened ability to multitask with devices and media.
Moms are media multitaskers when it comes to video. Half say that they are always or often talking to someone else or using social media while watching TV. 40% are also going online on their tablet, mobile phone or texting someone while watching TV. And 1 in 4 are talking on the phone at the same time. Moms are twice as likely to be using social media or texting while they are watching videos, 3 in 4 moms say that they skip all of the ads they can while watching television content; a rate that is 20% higher than the general online population.
Her Path to the Register Has Evolved
In BabyCenter's 2011 Shopping Rituals of the American Mom Report, we saw that the purchase funnel has been upended. In the six months since we unveiled that data, mom's reliance on mobile throughout the purchase process has dramatically increased. Usage of mobile media for getting product ideas has risen from 20% to 36%; usage of mobile product/brand recommendations has grown from 17% to 33%; using mobile for feature comparisons has risen from 21% to 37%; mobile for price comparison review grew from 28% to 45%; finding coupons or deals shifted from 22% to 31%; deciding where to buy has nearly doubled from 16% to 30%. Additionally, one in 5 moms have scanned a barcode for price comparisons in the past 30 days, and 9% regularly scan QR codes."
Source:  Press release from BabyCenter, 19th April 2012
Methodology:   "The findings in BabyCenter's 2012 American Media Mom report are the result of qualitative research, quantitative survey data, and three-screen behavioral data with Nielsen. We conducted in-home interviews with new and expecting moms in Chicago and San Francisco in February 2012 through our research partner Gallin Group. In addition, we conducted in-depth survey research on media behaviors and attitudes among 1100 new and expecting moms through BabyCenter's 21st Century Media Panel as well as 1400 non-moms (referred to as general population) using Socratic's online panel. Finally, Nielsen provided a three-screen behavioral analysis across Television, Online and Mobile behavior comparing BabyCenter's moms to persons 18+."

The demographics of British 'Mummy Bloggers'

"At the end of 2010, we surveyed 317 BMB members and developed a clearer picture of this fast-growing, dynamic blogging community which not only puts paid to some of the stereotypes but reveals why mum blogging is one of the most defined and inflential blogging tribes in the UK.
The survey reveals:
- Contrary to the image of all mum bloggers as not engaged in the world of work, 84% of respondents had a career before they started blogging and 68% still have a job or run their own business.
- Social networking is a cornerstone of their blogging life. They mostly define blogging as a hobby (82%) but it entails spending more than 7 hours a week on social media. (96% use Facebook and 81% use Twitter.) Compare that with the 2 to 3 hours they spend on traditional media each week, including newspapers, magazines, radio and TV.
- BMB bloggers mostly identify as being middle class (67%) and the majority are aged 30-39 years (55%) or 40-49 (30%).
- Far from being an “old trend”, mum blogging continues to gain steam - something we see in the number of new members joining BMB every week. Thirteen percent have been blogging for fewer than three months, 26% have been blogging for up to a year, and 34% have been blogging for 1 to 2 years. More than a quarter, or 27%, have been blogging for three years or more.
What we blog about
Unsurprisingly, parenting and children rank highest on topics to blog about. But lifestyle (71%), food (46%)  and travel (32%) are hot topics as well.
Mum bloggers are also looking to the future by interacting with brands - one of the ways that blogging is becoming sustainable.
More than half of respondents do reviews and 31% more want to. Most bloggers are open to working with brands, if the situation is right: 55% are interested in advertiser and sponsor relationships and 35% would consider it.

Source:  Research conducted by, and published in The Britmums Blog, 11th April 2011

Motherhood drives smartphone ownership

"More than half (53%) of the women surveyed said they purchased a smartphone as a direct result of becoming a mom. During this transition to motherhood, the most important features of her phone changed from her address book and text messaging to her camera, up 78% to #1, and video camera, which increased by 167% to #2. Apps, which weren’t even on her top ten list of important mobile features before she became a mom, increased 67% to #3 on the list. More than half (52%) of the moms surveyed have ten or more apps downloaded, with nearly 25% of the apps being for her kids."
Source:  Press release from Babycenter, 29th March 2011

"Mommy Blog" Dooce.com generates an estimated $30,000 - $50,000 per month in revenue

"She [Heather Armstrong] is one of the few bloggers who wield that kind of clout. Typically, there are 100,000 visitors daily to her site, Dooce.com, where she writes about her kids, her husband, her pets, her treatment for depression and her life as a liberal ex-Mormon living in Utah. As she points out, a sizable number also follow her on Twitter (in the year and a half since she threatened Maytag, she has added a half-million more). She is the only blogger on the latest Forbes list of the Most Influential Women in Media, coming in at No. 26, which is 25 slots behind Oprah, but just one slot behind Tina Brown. Her site brings in an estimated $30,000 to $50,000 a month or more — and that’s not even counting the revenue from her two books, healthy speaking fees and the contracts she signed to promote Verizon and appear on HGTV. She won’t confirm her income (“We’re a privately held company and don’t reveal our financials”). But the sales rep for Federated Media, the agency that sells ads for Dooce, calls Armstrong “one of our most successful bloggers,” then notes a few beats later in our conversation that “our most successful bloggers can gross $1 million.”"
Source:  New York Times, 23rd February 2011

A day in the life of online mums

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Source:  Microsoft Advertising, 2010

79% of American mothers are active on social media

"The US-based study found that 79% of all moms with children under the age of 18 were active on social media. The study broadly defines active as someone who currently belongs to a social network, or who reads, writes or comments on blogs.
Marketers will want to perk up for these next results: 23% of these social media moms have purchased a children’s product as a result of a review or recommendation they read on social media. And the most active moms are even more influenced by their online social networks, with 43% of those who log on at least once a day report purchasing based on a review they read online.
Of those who report purchasing a children’s product because of something they read on their social networks, 55% said that this recommendation came directly from a personal review blog – not a corporate-sponsored Twitter account or online advertisement on the side of Google search.
And Facebook is, of course, a huge influencer as well. 40% of the moms who report purchasing something because of what they read online said that the recommendation that drove them to make the purchase came from Facebook."
Source:  Data from NPG Groiup, reported by Social Times, 13th December 2010

65% of mums in the UK with internet use it as their first point of call for information

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Source: Yahoo! Mums Online report, August 2009

44% of American Moms use social media to get recommendations on brands and products

""Mommies are flocking to social networks, according to new research from BabyCenter LLC, which runs several parenting Web and community sites.
The number of moms using social media regularly has grown from 11% in 2006 to 63% today, an increase of 462% in three years, the company said.
The study, built from a series of in-depth surveys on the U.S. BabyCenter site, found that 44% of respondents used social media for recommendations on brands and products.
Social media are not equal in online mommies’ eyes, however. Most say they use mass-reach networks such as Facebook for socializing and entertainment, but turn to specialized content sites for information and counsel from fellow parents.""
Source: 21st Century Moms report, cited by Promo magazine, 7th July 2009