Men more likely than women to get movie info via mobile

Study shows men use mobile and social more often for movie info than women

The summer movie season is over and I think we got all the super hero bases covered.  Did we miss anybody?  Maybe we should do another Spiderman movie just to make sure we have enough.  We haven’t done Batman in a while—oh, no, that’s right, we have. 

I’m above all of that.  I’m patiently awaiting the fourth and final installment of the Twilight saga.  Bella’s a vampire! 

Interestingly enough, despite the plethora of super hero movies that come out every summer, women have traditionally been the main drivers of box office sales.  You wouldn’t know it, given studies that show that male movie characters have two-thirds of all speaking roles while female characters are three times as likely to appear nude.  (Here’s creepy: teenage girls are more likely to be shown in provocative clothing than women 21 and older.  Gross.  But I disgress.)

How can movie studios appeal to more male viewers?  There’s always the option of offering more nudity and ‘splosions.  Or, movie studios can target male consumers where it counts the most: on their phones.  IAB and InMobi released a study on Tuesday showing that men are significantly more likely than women to get movie info on their mobile devices.

Fully 40% of men polled said they’d watched watched a movie trailer on their mobile device, compared to 27% of women.  Additionally, men were more likely than women to sit through ads on their mobile device to watch a movie trailer (67% to 58%).

“It’s eye-opening to see how many people are watching ads on their mobile devices before screening trailers – in essence viewing an ad in order to get to another ad,” said Shrikant Latkar, InMobi’s Vice President of Global Marketing. “Brand marketers across the board should look at this phenomenon as a major opportunity to get in front of consumers, particularly men.”

Men were also more likely than women to say that they’ve used their mobile device to pick a movie (71% to 69%), and they were also more likely to say they’ve turned to social media to find out what friends have thought of a movie (38% vs. 33%).

Additionally, the more often a person goes to the movies, the more likely he or she is to rely on mobile for information.  Among those who said they go to the movies once a month or more, one in five said they always use their mobile device for picking a movie to attend.  Additionally, 24% of regular movie-goers said they’ve purchased movie tickets via their mobile device in the last six months, compared to 7% of infrequent movie-goers.

The study sample wasn’t large—just 373 mobile users.  The survey was distributed via InMobi’s mobile advertising network.  But the results are interesting nonetheless.  

Image source: iab.net