Talking About Teens’ Media Habits
Generation Z. Echo Boomers. The Millennials. However you characterize them, 13-17 year olds are in many ways profoundly different from preceding generations because they have grown up with the Internet.
But just how stark are the differences? And what do they mean for corporate America, marketers and advertisers?
When it comes to marketing to teens it’s not cable TV vs. network TV vs. digital media, said Bruce Friend, President of Media and Entertainment Insights at OTX Research. Friend should know. He recently completed a comprehensive survey of 750 teens across the country about their Web/media habits.
The study, titled “Teens Would Rather Have Their Lockers Vandalized than Homepage, But Prefer Shopping in Store to Online,” nicely encapsulates the way teens toggle between the analog and digital worlds. Sure, teens are spending more and more time online. Yet they still appreciate the difference between reality and virtual reality.
In an illuminating discussion, Friend dispels several myths that teens want to do everything and anything online. But at the same time, digital media are an increasingly important component in the life of the typical teenager. What makes their online consumption different from how adults use the Web is that digital media are “far more organic to their lifestyle,” Friend said. And that, of course, is going to lead to a further dislocation of advertising dollars.
So, with apologies to Quincy Jones, listen up!
(For a copy of ‘Navigating the Teen Media Experience, please click here.)
Matthew Schwartz is Senior Editor of ScribeMedia.org and host of the WebTV series, From Print to Digital.
If the usual teen is “mediarized” in his or her conception of communication, will there be future psychologists or psychiatrists whose sessions with patients be on-line?
Scary thought but inevitable.
[…] to ROBO – Research Online, Buy Offline – instead of buy online. Even digitally savvy teens prefer shopping in stores instead of online. As of Q2 2009, retail e-commerce sales are only 3.6% of total retail sales, up […]