News

Move Over Men, Women Pick Plasma as the Ideal Television (15/2/2005)

National Survey Shows Women Prefer Super Bowl Parties Over the Academy Awards

Guess who's throwing the Super Bowl party on your block this year? Chances are it's not the typical male sports fanatic; more than likely, it's his wife or female friend -- if they're among the many Americans who own a plasma television, a Panasonic survey found.

The national survey, conducted by Penn Schoen & Berland, found that 46 percent of women would throw a Super Bowl or sports-related party if they had a plasma TV. In fact, they are more likely to throw a sports-related party over the release of a new DVD (32 percent) or an awards show viewing like the Academy Awards (4 percent).

The survey also revealed that more than three quarters of women believe that having a plasma TV would make watching sporting events such as the Super Bowl more fun and exciting.

"When it comes to television purchasing, we are increasingly seeing women respond more like men in their television viewing preference and desired features," said Andrew Nelkin, Vice President of Display Group, Panasonic. "Women know what they are looking for and quality of the television is very important to them."

Men: When Buying Your Super Bowl Plasma, Take Your Wife

Women are extremely savvy when it comes to shopping for a plasma TV, the survey found. When men and women shop for televisions, they are fairly equal in their approach to purchasing a television, first they determine the amount they want to spend and then turn to sales people at the retailers for more information prior to making a purchase. The survey shows that 66 percent women and 62 percent men follow this pattern.

Women and men also use the same consideration criteria for purchasing a plasma television -- price, color quality, screen lifespan and picture contrast. In fact, the television complementing the interior design of the home is somewhat less important at 32 percent women and 29 percent men, putting the design aspects in the bottom half of importance.

When asked to rank the most important factors for purchasing a plasma television, women ranked the following as the top five in importance: price at 87 percent (men ranked it at 76 percent), color quality at 83 percent (men 80 percent), lifespan at 79 percent (men 78 percent), picture contrast at 69 percent (men 65 percent).

The survey also revealed that when women learn more about plasma TV and HDTV capabilities, they are right in line with men with 59 percent expressing more interest in purchasing (men are at 60 percent).

About the Survey

The survey was contracted by Panasonic and conducted by Penn Schoen & Berland Associates, an international research company based in New York City. A total of 1,000 respondents participated in the survey, with a margin of error of the overall sample of +/- 3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

www.panasonic.com