How Mums use the Internet February 2006

Mums Opinion Panel The Mums Opinion panel is a joint venture between Bounty and Research Now The Panel is made up of 10,000 mums representing all stages of pregnancy and motherhood until the child reaches two years Our dedicated online panel have opted in to take part in research on an ad-hoc or continuous basis This research is based on findings from a Mums Opinions survey carried out between 26th January and 6th February 2006 on 3406 mums It complements the IAB sponsored survey conducted amongst users of Handbag and iVillage about women’s behaviour online

Research Objectives To understand mums primary sources of information during pregnancy To understand mums internet usage habits and how they change through pregnancy and early motherhood To better understand the role and importance to mums of the channel To understand what activities they undertake online and on which sites

Straight away 1 to 3 months afterwards After 3 months Didn’t look for information When Started looking for Information on Pregnancy % Base: /05

Websites Books Magazines Midwives 77 Family Friends GP Retailers Pharmacists Other Main Sources of Pregnancy Information % Base: /05

Value of Information Sources Midwives Websites MagazinesFamilyFriends GP RetailersPharmacy Other Books % Base: /05

% 51% of mums use the internet more than once a day and a further 37% use it every day or nearly every day Base: 3406 How often Mums go on the Internet Over 26% use the internet 3-5 times a day and 13% more often than this

% 33% of mums use the internet between 30 mins and 1 hour a day. 44% use it more than an hour each day Base: 3406 Length of time on the internet each day

% Nearly half (48%) of mums usage of the internet increased since becoming pregnant Base: 873 Usage changes since becoming pregnant

% 29% said that their internet usage had increased since having a baby. 34% said it decreased this reflects a drop in usage among very new mums Base: 2533 Usage changes since having a baby

% Nearly all (98%) of mums use the internet for , closely followed by looking for mother and baby info at 87% Base: 3406 What mums use the internet for % use chatrooms but this rises to 26% as the birth approaches

Chatrooms and 55% of those using chatrooms for an hour or less a day. A further 24% use it them for 30 minutes to an hour 93% send s to their friends and 88% to family 62% regularly receive commercial s Mums send s to keep in contact (93%) and arrange meetings (54%)

% 70% of mums had brought items for their baby over the internet in the last 6 months, clothing (60%) and videos (59%) also rated highly Base: 3406 Items brought over the internet in the last 6 months

% 72% of Mums use the Bounty website, 68% Pampers and 32% Babycentre. 11% don’t use any of these websites. Base: 3406 Websites used

% 96% of mums look for information from websites, 80% look for advice and 56% look for shopping Base: 3406 What mums look for in a website

% Google is the most popular search engine by some way with 80% of mums using it. Other key players include Ask Jeeves and Yahoo! Base: 3406 Search engines mums use

% The most popular broadband provider is NTL/ Telewest with 29% of mums using either, followed by BT (18%) and AOL (13%) Base: 3406 Broadband provider used

Summary The Internet has become the most important point of information for new mums The trust placed in information retrieved here is on a par with that gained from midwives 88% of mums are on the web either every or nearly every day Over 44% are on the internet for over an hour each day Nearly 50% of women use the web more when they become pregnant Nearly all mums (98%) use and 87% have searched for baby and pregnancy related information online Over 70% have bought something for their baby over the internet in the last six months

The leading portal for mums and parents of young families 15 million pages viewed each month Over 850,000 user sessions per month Over 400,000 opt-in members Average session length of 15 minutes viewing 27 pages The engine for three monthly newsletters The biggest online community of mums in the UK Over 10,000 new discussion forum posts every day About Bounty.com

Contact Sue Dwyer Head of Insight Andrew Thomas E-Business Director +44 (0)