Reflecting on the success of the various initiatives to get Indian women online, Google, on the occasion of Women’s Day announced that there has been a significant growth in internet usage by women users who are now spending more time on Google search than men.
The highest percentile of growth in terms of time spent on Google search’ has been witnessed in the middle-aged category. The growth in terms of the time spent on Google search recorded by women in the age group of 35-44 years outnumbers the growth of middle-aged men by 123%. This is YoY growth measured in terms of ‘time spent in minutes’ on Google Search.
Interestingly, the search engine has also recorded a significant uptake in search usage by upper middle-aged women (above 55 years). In 2015 this category outgrew the younger women user base (age group of 15-24 years) and working women (age group of 24-35 years).
Interestingly, in terms of growth in ‘search minutes’ women outnumber men in younger age-groups as well. In the 15-24 age-group time spent by women grew by 110% as compared to 104% by men. In the 25-34 age-group, time spent by women grew by 108% as compared to 98% by men.
Google also revealed that there are more mothers using Google search when compared to fathers. 1 in 3 (33%) women who are mothers are on the web while only 1 in 4 fathers are on the web.
“The Internet is playing an incredibly important role in changing the lives of women in India. It is great to see how women are taking to the internet in greater numbers and increasing their time spent, even outpacing the time spent by men. This trend is likely to continue growing as India’s vast rural population of over 800 million comes online and experiences the power of the internet, Google said in a statement".
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Looking at the key interests of women online, it is seen that women on the web are 4 times more beauty mavens than men. Women also have a 3 times higher interest in fashion.
Interestingly this is not just limited to the fashion and beauty segments. Women are outpacing men on searches in their fascination for food being 3 times higher, same is the case with entertainment (family television) and finally 2 times higher interest even aroundhealth and fitness.
A recent report by IAMAI and IMRB highlights the male domination of the internet with women users constituting just about 29% of the total user base. In rural India the female representation is restricted to only 12%.
India currently holds the world’s third largest internet user base after China and the US with approximately 325 million active users. Of this 121 million users are on broadband while the rest are narrowband internet users.
About Google Inc.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in September 1998. Since then, the company has grown to more than 50,000 employees worldwide, with a wide range of popular products and platforms like Search, Maps, Ads, Gmail, Android, Chrome, and YouTube.
Courtesy by www.newsvoir.com
