Women a growing force online

A new study from Comscore on the internet behaviour of women could be of interest to online gambling marketers.
The study showed that although women are still slightly in the minority among global Web users, they are closing the gap with men and, once connected, spend about two more hours online a month on average.
Women users aged 55 and over spend an average 214 minutes a month in online gaming, whilst male players aged between 15 and 24 – a key group – spend only an average of 92 minutes a month.
According to Comscore, females exceed males particularly in communications, devoting about one-third of their online time to social networking, instant messaging and e-mail messages compared with about one-quarter for men. Women 45 and older exhibited the greatest growth in social networking.
Women also outpace men in photo sharing and shopping, and in gaming, favouring casual puzzle, card and board games. Female gamers over 55 spend the most time online gaming of any demographic by far and are nearly as common as the most represented group, males 15 to 24.
Women are also being found in increasing numbers on gambling and sexually oriented websites, where they are almost as likely to be found on gambling sites as men, and over a third of women users visit sex-content websites.
“Unlike the earlier days of the Internet, women today exhibit many behaviours that are perhaps surprisingly similar to their male counterparts,” said Andrew Lipsman, senior director of industry analysis at Comscore.

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