Time Inc. and Nuance Digital Marketing Study Exposes a Woman's Love Affair With Her Mobile Device

NEW YORK, NY and LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 28, 2013) - Time Inc. (www.timeinc.com) and Nuance Digital Marketing (www.nuancedigitalmarketing.com), a newly created agency helping brands connect with the highly influential female segment online, today revealed a study that shed more light on how the smartphone is the most important device in a woman's life (60% vs. 43% of men). The joint study titled "Women + Mobile: The Unbreakable Bond" offers deep insights into how mobile devices have impacted the way women communicate and shop, the key differences in the way men and women feel about and engage with their smartphones and tablets, and ultimately how women interact with mobile advertising.

"As a new agency focused on womens' interactions in the digital space, we chose to team with Time Inc., one of the leading media companies reaching women on their mobile devices, to learn more about women and their mobile habits," said Jackie Stasi, Founder of Nuance Digital Marketing. "We knew that women were early adopters of the smartphone, but were surprised to learn how open they are to hearing from advertisers on their devices, and our findings will allow us to more effectively reach women on the platforms and methods they desire."

Karen Kovacs, Publisher of PEOPLE, said: "Time Inc. recognized the potential for reaching women via mobile very early on and at PEOPLE, we have found success in delivering trusted, premium content experiences wherever and whenever she wants it. This new study confirms the enormous opportunity in front of us to strengthen our relationship with our female audiences on the platform where we are seeing the most rapid growth and engagement."

Major findings from the study include:

• Relationship with devices
  87% of women say they can't imagine their lives without their phone. It's the first thing she looks at in the morning (78%), the last thing before going to bed (73%) and it's with her wherever she goes (98%). Women are "addicted" to their smartphones (64% vs. 58% of men).
  
  
• "Now Time"
  88% of women say smartphones give them something to do during their 92 minutes a day of "empty" time -- waiting on line at the bank, for an appointment, or sitting in the car waiting for the kids to get out of school. Women often fill that time with mobile activities that provide emotional pleasure -- social media (72% vs. 64% of men), text messaging (88% vs. 80% of men), and shopping (55% vs. 46% of men).
  
  
• Shopping Habits
  Mobile is driving men and women to shop online more than ever, but their shopping paths are divergent. For men, shopping on the smartphone is about getting the job done. They use their mobile devices to find a nearby store (58%), to conduct a product search (50%) or make a purchase (41%). They are also more likely to scan QR codes (50%) than their female counterparts (38%).
  
  Women love the mobile shopping journey, and leverage a device's features and apps through every stage to make smarter choices about what they're buying. During the discovery stage, women use their smartphones to make and save product wish lists (32% vs. 26% of men). In the planning stage, they collect discount coupons (23% vs. 14% of men) and make shopping lists (46% vs. 38% of men). At purchase, women check in on apps like Foursquare to get discounts (17% vs. 14% of men). And post-purchase, they share photos of their new products (52% vs. 35%).
  
  Additionally, nearly half of all women would rather use their smartphone to get additional information than ask a sales associate in-store.
  
  
• Advertising Implications
  Traditional down time has been revamped with smartphone and tablet activity, opening a window of opportunity for content providers and marketers during the new "found time" segments of the day. While the majority of the study's findings indicate that women actually do want to hear from advertisers if it is relevant to their purchase, 91% of women across generations said they are less than thrilled with mobile ads that are intrusive, creating a negative experience.
  
  There is a way for marketers to break into the inner circle -- women say they welcome ads on their devices that:
  
  
  • Ask her permission: 41% of women say they're more welcoming to ads that let them control the experience
  • Share her interests: 52% of women are more interested in ads that are relevant to the content she is already immersed in
  • Help her look her best: 52% of women say they would notice ads that have colorful and bright visuals
  • Engage her in conversation: 41% of women would like ads that give her offers based on location

About Time Inc.
Time Inc., a division of Time Warner, is one of the largest branded media companies in the world reaching more than 130 million Americans each month across multiple platforms. With influential brands such as TIME, PEOPLE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, InStyle, and REAL SIMPLE, Time Inc. is home to celebrated events and franchises including the FORTUNE 500, TIME 100, PEOPLE's Most Beautiful and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S Sportsman of the Year.

About Nuance Digital Marketing
Nuance Digital Marketing (Nuance) is an advertising and media agency that helps brands connect digitally with women, who account for 85% of all consumer purchases. By looking beyond traditional methods to glean insights into female consumer behaviors, Nuance helps brands harness the spending power of this highly influential group by providing custom research and proprietary tools to create digital media and marketing solutions. For more information, visit www.nuancedigitalmarketing.com.

Methodology
The study was conducted from June 2013 through August 2013 in two phases:

• Qualitative: online discussion forums and focus groups with men, women and couples
• Quantitative: National online survey among 1200 women, 500 men