Men go online more often, stay on for longer, and respond to ads more positively than women do, according to a new report from eMarketer.
The firm looked at the Internet habits of men versus women, partially because men are (technically) in the minority online and also because gender “is a distinguishing factor of Internet use, informing online behavior and attitudes.”
There are 95.9 million men online in 2009, according to eMarketer’s estimation.
When compared against the 103.2 million women, that puts men at 48.2 percent of the overall Internet population (those who access the Internet at least once a month from any location).
The firm says that the US Internet population will grow steadily, but by 2013, men will only make up 47.9 percent of the group.
Men are supposedly not as bothered by “websites cluttered with ads” as women are, either. eMarketer claims that 56 percent of women in a study of 4,095 Internet users had negative reactions towards advertisers on sites that contain advertisements, compared with 48.3 percent of men.
“Still, any negative reaction should be avoided–it is not what advertisers are paying for,” cautions the report.
Photo by scataudo .