A recent Nielsen survey suggests that iPad owners are more aggressive consumers of media, and more receptive to advertising than owners of other devices. Nielsen surveyed over 5,000 consumers who already own connected media devices such as tablet computers, eReaders, netbooks and/or smartphones. In addition to noting the nascent market development of tablets, the survey indicated that tablet owners tend to own more connected devices than users of other device types. According to the company, iPad users tend to be younger and more of them are male than users of other connected devices, with 63% of iPad users being under the age of 35, as compared to 47% of Kindle users.
The survey also showed that iPad owners more regularly access traditional print and video content such as books, magazines, TV shows and movies, while news and music are still consumed slightly more by iPhone users. iPad owners also tend to spend more time on content, with the average iPad user spending from 30 minutes to 2 hours at a time depending on the type of content. In comparison, most iPhone users spend less than 15 minutes accessing any type of content, even feature-length movies. Nielsen also notes that 63% of iPad owners have purchased at least one application, with games, books, and music applications being the most common types of paid apps; 5% of respondents downloaded only free apps, and 32% of respondents indicated that they had never downloaded an app for their iPad.
Nielsen also revealed that connected device owners are generally comfortable with mobile advertising, particularly where it means that content can be accessed for free, and that iPad owners are considerably more receptive than iPhone or other connected device owners to advertising, particularly if the ads include interesting video or interactive features. The survey went on to note that iPad owners were much more likely to make a purchase, either online or at a retail store after viewing an ad on their iPad. A summary of the findings is available as a PDF from Nielsen’s site.