• by November 6, 2001

As he announced the release of the Newspapers First Teen Movie Survey, Jay Zitz, President and CEO of Newspapers First, said, “Teenagers still depend on the newspaper to help make their movie decisions. Even compared with the Internet, newspapers are a key resource for teens throughout the process involved in selecting a specific movie, theater and show time.”

Fifteen major daily newspapers throughout the U.S. represented by Newspapers First conducted the Survey. A total of nearly 1,500 teens were interviewed as they exited movie theaters. Findings of the survey include:

* most teenagers do read both weekday and Sunday papers for movie information
* 52% of teen moviegoers use the weekday newspaper entertainment section
* only 42% of teens use the Internet frequently/occasionally for movie information
* 56% of teens said they would miss movie ads/information/reviews if they were removed from newspapers
* 76% of teens see movies within the first two weeks of the opening weekend
* local newspaper web sites attract 44% of all teens who use the Internet for movie-going decisions
* the average teen sees nearly 5 movies within a two month span

When asked to compare Newspapers to the Internet as a means of acquiring overall movie information, teenage respondents voted as follows:

                         Newspapers   Internet 
Finding Show Times         673         347 
Deciding On Movie          502         423 
Deciding On Theater        278         213

Seeing What Looks Good     259         268