The Technology Gender Divide is Narrowing

Sectoral experts from Ipsos-Reid and Ipsos-NPD will be discussing current cable issues and primary research findings at the Cable and Telecom Association for Marketing (CTAM) 2002 Research Conference. The conference will be held in San Diego this week. Below are excerpts from our latest research on new consumer technologies.

The Gender Divide Is Narrowing

When the Internet first rolled out, women were slower to gravitate toward it. But over the past two years, our global surveying has shown that women are catching up with men in adopting the Internet.They are ramping up their enthusiasm for other technologies as well; they approximate men's appeal levels for broadband Internet access, digital cable, and purchase on demand. However, women are not as interested as men are in the ability to record onto DVD. Women fall 10 percentage points behind men in their interest in this capability (48% of men thought recording onto DVD was appealing versus 38% of women).

That women are less enthused than men are about recording onto DVD is very likely an offshoot of their lower familiarity with the benefits of DVD. Women are less likely to have DVD players in their households than men are (28% versus 38%, respectively), less likely to want to buy one now (8% versus 12% of men), and more likely to never want one (21% versus 16%).

If recording onto DVD may not be wowing women yet, another TV-oriented technology is catching their attention: the personal video recorder (or PVR). Women are at least as likely as men are to find PVRs appealing (39% versus 35%, respectively). This finding suggests that the advantages of user-based control over TV programming will not be lost on women, in the various interactive formats they appear.

Growth Exists, Despite a Tougher Marketplace

DVD players have now made their way into 33% of American house-holds. This represents a significant jump from the 20% it was at the end of the year 2000.* And, DVD players' future growth looks prom-ising: only 18% of Americans think that it will never be worthwhile to buy a DVD player.

For more information, please email Edward Morawski.

Facts About Interactive TV...

Ipsos-NPD conducted research in December, 2001 to help gauge the overall level of interest in Interactive TV (iTV), as well as receptivity to performing specific activities on television sets such as e-mail, surfing the Web, and Video-On-Demand.

Interest in Interactive TV is Substantial. With almost one-third (31%) of consumers indicating they would be likely to subscribe to Interactive TV, a critical mass appears ready to try this new service. Interestingly, likelihood to subscribe is comparable among males and females, as well as by region. Thus, marketing efforts should be evenly focused. It should be noted that since our question was worded without a specific price point ("how interested would you be in subscribing at a reasonable price"), more specific pricing research would be required to explore this issue.

For more information, please contact Eric Lubeck or Carol George.