Let’s face it – women drive the economy.  I’ve read that women are responsible for up to 85% of all brand purchases made in the United States.  Check out these recent numbers from a Mindshare/Ogilvy & Mather study: 

60% of U.S. car buyers last year were women!  Those cars need tires, gasoline, oil changes, insurance, and, well, you get the idea.  And, 60% of online shopping today is done by women. This includes electronics, financial services, tourism, and naturally, cosmetics and fashion.  Add to that, one third of small businesses are owned by women.

So, now that we know how important women are as a target demographic, let’s talk about their media habits.

First we need to understand that women have always been great multi-taskers.  It harks back to one of Peggy Lee’s signature songs, ‘Cause I’m a woman! W-O-M-A-N!’  That song goes back to 1963 (the version I remember is the one from the late 70’s TV commercial for Enjoli, the 8-hour perfume – take a look HERE

Almost 50 years later, women are still masters at multi-tasking and there is no better medium than radio when it comes to multi-tasking.  Think about it, people are almost always doing something else while listening to the radio.

Based on some new data from Edison Research and Arbitron, here’s how women balance new and traditional media.  During morning drive, women’s media preference is almost evenly split between radio, TV and the Internet.  Upon arriving at work, radio consumption increases to nearly half of all women (45%).  Most still listen on a traditional radio (66%) but increasingly, radio is listened to on computers (18%) and mobile devices (15%).

So, you may want to portion your media dollars accordingly.  And, keep your eye on the growing rate of mobile listeners.

She’s got one hand on her wallet and the other on her radio.

Lisa Sable is a Senior Marketing Strategist at The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the email or RSS links above. Visit our website TheRadioAgency.com