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.
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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
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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+."