Teens put Internet first, says US Media Survey

At a Yahoo! summit on the next generation, Yahoo! and Carat North America announced the results of a study about media consumption by teens and young adults (ages 13-24). Among the key findings of the two-phased market research program conducted by Harris Interactive and Teenage Research Unlimited (TRU), was that the internet has surpassed television in overall time spent to become the primary medium of choice among the young. Additional findings show the younger generation uses the Internet as their media "hub" and they feel empowered by the abundant media choices available to them.

Teens and young adults consume many different types of media, according to the study. The average week is as follows:
* 16.7 hours online (excluding email),
* 13.6 hours watching TV,
* 12 hours listening to the radio,
* 7.7 hours talking on the phone,
* 6 hours reading books and magazines (personal, not scholastic).

The study, which polled more than 2,500 teens and young adults using both qualitative and quantitative methods, suggests that "control" - the ability to personalise and manage the media experience and content - was the primary reason this group chooses the internet over other forms of media. Survey findings also showed that teens use the internet as a "hub", while other media are used as a starting point for the online experience. While other generations are more likely to be wed to a single type of media, the study revealed that today's teens and young adults are not overwhelmed by the abundance of media choices like cable stations, networks, magazines and radio, but rather feel empowered by it and are able to use more than one form of media at a time to a greater extent than any other generation.

On a typical day, a young person in the US faces media which includes 200+ cable television networks, 5,500 consumer magazine titles, 10,500 radio stations, 30 million+ websites, and 122,000 newly published books.

Wenda Harris Millard, chief sales officer for Yahoo! said: 'The findings of our joint study confirm that the media landscape is shifting. This generation is a revolutionary consumer group, actively in control and entrenched in their media experience.'

As part of the summit, six teens 'relocated' their bedrooms to Yahoo! headquarters. Every detail from the posters on their walls to the young people themselves was on display, showing the influence of various media on their lives.

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