Teens and the media

Common folklore has the average teenager glued to the video game and online all day. Apparently, reality is that teens are just like their parents except less so. In a recent Nielsen study, the conclusion was that teens are pretty normal in their media usage. The key findings are as follows:

• Teens are NOT abandoning TV for new media: In fact, they watch more TV than ever, up 6% over the past five years in the U.S.
• Teens love the Internet … but spend far less time browsing than adults: Teens spend 11 hours and 32 minutes per month online. Far below the average of 29 hours and 15 minutes.
• Teens watch less online video than most adults, but the ads are highly engaging to them: Teens spend 35% less time watching online video than adults 25-34, but recall ads better when watching TV shows online than they do on television.
• Teens read newspapers, listen to the radio and even like advertising more than most: Teens who recall TV ads are 44% more likely to say they liked the ad.
• Teens play video games, but their tastes aren’t all for the blood-and-guts style games: Just two of their top five most-anticipated games since 2005 have been rated “Mature.”
• Teens’ favorite TV shows, top websites and genre preferences across media are mostly the same as their parents: For U.S. teens, American Idol was the top show in 2008, Google the top website and general dramas are a preferred TV genre for teens around the world.

Now, what does this really say? It says most people spend way too much time watching TV. It also says that TV ads actually do what they intend to do, that is sell everybody more stuff. It also says that everybody is media saturated. Rather than being good news, this article points out how really wretched the whole media scene has become and here I am contributing my share.