Adults living with children are 40% more likely to use the internet, according to research from the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA).
Over 7,000 Europeans took part in the research, which found that over 70% of adults with children go online every week, compared with only half (52%) of those without.
Those with children were highlighted to be engaging with several forms of digital media more than those without, including the watching of TV and video online, sharing content and listening to the radio online.
This increases the opportunity for brands to engage with their audience online and means that marketers must develop targeted and effective online strategies to appeal to today’s online families and meet their specific lifestyle needs.
Almost a third (30%) of these digital parents are watching film, TV or video clips online. It’s an activity which is growing enormously in popularity (+150% since 2006) and with 22% also intending to upgrade to broadband in the next six months, this trend is set to accelerate.
32% are listening to the radio online and 66% now regularly use the internet as a source of news – showing how broadcast and other traditional media are increasingly being consumed online.
In addition, digital parents are using the internet to express themselves more and to interact with others. Web activities such as ratings and reviews and creating and sharing content have experienced a significant boost since 2006 (+40% and +27% respectively).
Online habits also varied depending on the age of children, with parents of younger children, aged 0-4, going to health sites and those with children aged 10-15 going to price comparison and TV sites.
Overall, digital parents are ramping up their web time, spending 11.6 hours online each week (up 36% since 2004) and over a quarter are heavy users of the internet (27%). Digital families are also more likely than those households without children to use the internet at the weekends (58% vs. 40%).
This online activity has meant that digital families are consuming other media less as a result of the internet – 44% of digital parents are watching less TV, almost a third read fewer magazines and newspapers (31% and 30% respectively) and almost a quarter (24%) listen to the radio less.
This can be attributed in part to the fact that time-pressured adults living with children find the web provides what they want quickly and saves them time (76% vs. 68% of people without children) while almost half (47%) believe it puts them in control (vs. 42%).
Alison Fennah, executive director of the EIAA, said: “Marketers have traditionally tracked youth as a demographic online so it’s particularly interesting to see their influence on the rest of the family. Marketers must look to tap into this mindset when creating online campaigns.”
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