Generation M2: Media Habits of 8-18 Year Olds

While we all know that media habits are in an unprecedented state of flux, it was interesting to see how this change is accelerated in the next generation. A US study carried out by the Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed approximately 2,000 students on their media habits with an additional 700 keeping detailed diaries of the their media usage. The study not only examines current consumption patterns, but also tracks trends resulting from similar research conducted in 1999 and 2004.

Highlights of the study include:
• Average amount of media consumption per day (in hours) 10, up from 7.5 in 1999
• Due to a propensity for multi-tasking (consuming multiple formats at one time) kids are able to pack this total amount into 7.5 hours
• TV content is still king, accounting for 4.5 hours of viewing, but broadcast TV is losing ground to online and mobile viewing
• 64% reported having a TV on during meals and 71% of students have a tv in their bedroom
• 84 % have internet access and the total amount of time spent on a computer is 1.5 hours vs. .5 hours on print media
• Computers are primarily being used for Social Media (25%), Gaming (19%) and watching videos (16%)
• 76% of respondents own an iPod or MP3 player, up from just 18% in 2004.
• 66% own a mobile phone, up from 39% in 2004
• Daily consumption of newspapers and magazines has dropped by 20% since 1999
• 60% of mobile phone use in relation to content consumption
• 11-14 year olds consumer the most amount of media at 11.5 hours per day, closely followed by 15-18 year olds at 11.2 hours
• The research also revealed that light and moderate media users got better grades than heavy media users

The amount of media being consumed by 11-14 year olds really surprised me as there has been a general parental movement to limit the amount of tv children watch. Parental discipline has obviously not evolved to take new content channels into consideration. There is a gap in parental knowledge, which is likely to expand, as children outpace adults in relation to new ways to consume media. With Minister Eamon Ryan set to conduct a national consultation on the impact of online content on traditional media, it might be worth taking a look at the habits of Irish tweens to get a perspective on how the situation might evolve with the coming of age of generation M2 and beyond. The results could then be used by interest groups to create guidelines for parents on how to set ground rules for children’s interaction with these channels.

Of course, this information will be useful to marketers with a view to shaping communication with this audience as strategies keep pace with the ever evolving social media. With Facebook  visits having overtaken Google searches  for the first time ever in the US, and measurement tools allowing you to analyse the success of campaigns, tactics and levels of engagement, this is a channel that is sure to sure to increase its share of the marketing mix.

Author: Lisa McDonald lisa.mcdonald@scomms.ie

Is Co-operation the new competition or another word for procrastination?

The IBEC Telecommunications and Internet Federation (TIF) telecommunications forum on Monday 21st Septemberwas certainly interesting.  Having moved back from the UK after ten years in telecommunications there, it was interesting to see what issues exist for the Irish market in terms of getting connected and broadband access nationally.

 The short version is (stop me if you have heard this before):

•  Everyone agrees that they need to pool resources and create a consistent broadband network for next generation access.
• Trouble is no one wants to pay for it in the hope someone out there will fund this.
• Chances are  nobody will do anything
• Everyone will hear the same issue come up next year.

 The benefits are clear; this new network would unlock Ireland’s potential and entrepreneurial base, which according to Dr Ronnie O’Toole of NIB, technology sector sees the highest concentration of start ups and the most likely to develop the Irish Google or Nokia and establish Ireland as a centre for IT excellence and indigenous.

The realities of such a vision does some major obstacles. Minister Eamon Ryan focused on the Irish government being a facilitator to help the operators reach an agreement. No one disputes the need to have this network but who pays for what and who gets access were the sticking points. Eircom’s new chief executive, Paul Donovan kicked off the debate highlighting that Ireland’s operators are not in a position to create their own separate networks. The point was reinforced by on by Tommy McCabe of TIF, who asked how it would be delivered and paid for in the current challenging climate. The debate swung from the government should invest to how the operators needed to front up the money, which Paul Donovan was quick to note that Eircom had invested over 1.1 billion euros in infrastructure and would continue to do this to upgrade fibre, but needed a way to work with everyone else (everyone else contributed an average of 700 million euro). Not everyone was so minded, Robert Finnegan of 3 stated that although they shared sites, they did not see the need to collaborate any further.

Outside during the breaks, there were wildly contrasting reactions as to progress being made or if this was déjà vu. Some of the attendees predicted we would still be in the same situation next year as no one wanted to give ground and risk giving a competitor the upper hand.

I think Lord Carter who spoke put it best when he said that ultimately a ‘deal space’ needed to be put into place where all the parties came together in a relatively risk controlled environment (from my reading, I think that is polite speak for locking everyone in one room until they agreed, but that is just me). In their separate spaces (the telecoms industry, Comreg and the Government), consensus on anything looks unlikely. The problem of procrastination is that the pressure builds as we seek to attract Foreign Direct Investment and our infrastructure is critical particularly with the big bets in data storage and cloud computing.

Will the need to get out of recession and get jobs mean we might finally have the dealspace, or will 2009 be the year of procrastination?

Author Read more >>