BY Rachel Cagle
Men may want romantic partners to be their valentine, but when it comes to hanging out, dining or even going on a cruise, they tend to have more fun with just about anyone else.
That's the surprising finding of an online survey by OC&C Strategy Consultants, which asked 6,000 adults about their relationship happiness. Notably, women valued their partners more than work colleagues or being alone.
When men were asked to rank their levels of fun on a scale of 1–100 while with family members, friends, work colleagues or going solo vs. their partners, the latter category earned the weakest average, 70. This despite the fact that they reported spending an average 30% of leisure time with partners, second only to time alone, 32 percent.
Men had the most fun with family members and kids, who earned a 78 rating, and friends 74.
Women also ranked their family members first (76), then friends (74), but romantic partners came in third (72), followed by co-workers (68). They had less fun than men while alone, (68 vs. 70). Partners or spouses shared 26% of women's leisure time, the survey said.
When looking for something to do during a guys or girls night out, many may head to the movies. Frequent Movie Goers are 60% more likely than other adults to find advertising on their mobile apps useful and 46% more willing to sacrifice some privacy to get ads that are relevant to them, according to AudienceSCAN. These movie goers also have used mobile devices within the last six months to purchase products (42.9%), view a retailer's website (28.5%) and redeem or download coupons (26.8%), possibly related to their next movie outing.
"This has big implications for leisure brands," said John Franklin, Associate Partner at OC&C, who led the research. "Hotels, restaurants, cruise lines and other purveyors of experiences should note how consumers segment their leisure time and how the same experience can vary depending on the company one keeps."
When it comes to leisure activity, OC&C found that simply going out to eat gets stale and that the couples who are having the most fun varied their activities.
"One of the key takeaways here is to be open to new experiences," said Franklin. "The most fun couples participated in 13 different activities per year and had 40% more fun than their less adventurous peers. So don't just go for drinks and a meal with your partner; go to the gym, the movies or even an amusement park.
Operators of alternative forms of entertainment can target consumers who want something a little different, such as Frequent Movie Goers, through both traditional and digital ads. According to AudienceSCAN, last year, 59.1% of these viewers took action after seeing an ad on a daily deals website, such as Groupon, and 56.6% reacted to radio ads they heard both online and over-the-air. They're also 41% more likely than other adults to click on text link ads on websites. Also within the last year, 71.3% of Frequent Movie Goers took action after seeing TV commercials and 59.4% were driven to action by ads at a movie theater.
AudienceSCAN data is available for your applications and dashboards through the SalesFuel API. Media companies and agencies can access AudienceSCAN data through the AudienceSCAN Reports in AdMall.