Media Consumption Survey: Where Do Moderate Women Get Their News?
In order for Galvanize Action to connect with moderate women, we have to know where to reach them online! Understanding how and where moderate women get their news and how they interact with social and traditional media helps us put just the right prosocial programming in just the right places. The more we know, the more impactful and cost-effective we can be! Galvanize Action just conducted a media consumption survey to learn even more about moderate women’s media habits—including which platforms they use, how much time they spend on them, and which types of content women enjoy.
Let’s dive into the data!
MODERATE WOMEN AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook and YouTube are overwhelmingly the most popular social media platforms across all ages, although there is some interesting variation by age group. In order of time spent:
→ 55+: Facebook, YouTube
→ 35-55: YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram
→ 18-34: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat
Nearly all respondents (93%) report using Facebook daily. That’s quite a bit higher than the 76% of all American women who say they use Facebook at all (not even daily).
⚡Information like this tells us that it’s probably a safe bet to continue running ads on Facebook, which is where many women see them!
This is how one of our favorite ads appeared to women on Facebook last year.
The most commonly-reported reasons for using social media were connecting with friends & family and then filling spare time/entertainment. When they’re seeking entertainment, moderate women prefer content related to food and cooking, news and current events, hobby and DIY, and then health and fitness. We also saw that younger women (18-34) are more likely to enjoy parenting, educational, and fashion and beauty content than women 55+ are.
⚡Information like this helps us decide what types of content we should serve to our audience! Our award-winning research team might decide to test more cooking-related content for an all-ages audience, or perhaps try out parenting or beauty-related content with younger moderate women. With our sophisticated “targeting,” it’s easy to deliver just the right message to just the right woman.
In open-ended responses, women told us what they like and dislike about the social media platforms they use. Here are their ranked likes and dislikes:
| What women like about social media | What women dislike about social media |
| Friends & Family “Keeping up / staying in contact with friends and family” | Ads & Commercialization “Too many ads” “Ads always pop up” |
| Entertainment “Something to pass the time” | Misinformation & Fake News “Fake news” “It’s getting harder to tell fact from fiction” |
| News & Information “Keeping up with current events” “Finding out news” | Negativity & Toxicity “People being mean and nasty” “Too much drama” |
| Community & Belonging “Connecting with community” | Privacy & Scams “Hackers and security breaches” “Government spying” |
| Learning & Inspiration “Learn new ways of doing things” “Finding new items, ideas” | Time Consuming “Too addictive” “Wasting time watching useless videos” |
| Comparison & Self-Esteem “Comparing lives” “Makes me feel bad about myself” |
These lists are fascinating. They clearly highlight problems like toxicity and misinformation that are used to pull women away from progress. They also very clearly highlight opportunities for Galvanize Action! This information will help us develop interventions that promote community, belonging, healthy civic education, and openness to new ideas.
TV AND STREAMING SERVICES
A majority of women in this sample (58%) watch traditional/cable TV for at least an hour a day.
Streaming services are also popular with this audience! Sixty percent watch Netflix for at least an hour a day, 43% spend that much time watching Amazon Prime Video, and 40% watch Hulu for an hour or more each day. In order of preference, the genres respondents enjoy most are drama, crime & mystery, and action & adventure.
⚡Galvanize Action might use data like this to determine which streaming services and shows to place over-the-top ads on. A drama show on Netflix might be a better choice than a cartoon on Paramount+!
MODERATE WOMEN DON’T LISTEN TO PODCASTS VERY MUCH
This one might surprise you if you’re an avid podcast listener: 40% of moderate women said they never listen to podcasts. Among the other 60%, responses varied by age with younger women more likely to listen to podcasts (at least sometimes) than older women. Of those who listen to podcasts, the most popular genres are true crime, news & current events, then humor & comedy.
By the way, have you taken a look at the balance between left-leaning and right-leaning podcasts and online shows recently? There’s a pretty stark difference, which is one reason that exploring prosocial content in the new media landscape is so important to us here at Galvanize Action.
WHERE MODERATE WOMEN GET THEIR NEWS
Moderate women get their news from all of the sources we just discussed! Respondents were most likely to consume the news on TV (49% often watch the news on TV), from news websites (40%), or from friends on social media (39%). When it comes to important topics like public health, science, social issues, foreign affairs, economics, and politics, women rely mostly on their friends and family or news organizations for information.
⚡Our nonpartisan affiliate Galvanize USA might use this information to help fight disinformation and support healthy, accurate news sharing in their digital community!
Galvanize Action has spent years connecting with this audience. We’re ahead of the game in terms of knowing where and how they like to engage with media, and this new data gives us even more to work with! Now we’re even better positioned to meet women where they are with programming they trust so we can build political knowledge and protect our democracy together.
