• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 23, 2012

It’s no secret that 18- to-34-year-olds continue to redefine media consumption; new Nielsen research explains why. Along with NM Incite, Nielsen found this demo -- christened  “Generation C” -- is taking their personal connections to new levels, devices, and experiences.

The latest U.S. Census reports that consumers 18-34 make up 23% of the U.S. population, yet they represent a particularly large portion of consumers watching online video -- 27% -- visiting social networking/blog sites -- 27% -- owning tablets -- 33% -- and using a smartphone -- 39%.

With an array of online video content to choose from, consumers increased their monthly online video time in the third quarter of 2011 by 7% from the same period last year.

During October 2011, YouTube was the top destination for online video content, accounting for nearly half -- 45% -- of Americans’ total streaming time, while social networks/blogs garnered the most Internet time overall.

The majority of mobile phone time was consumed by app usage, with social networking apps -- accounting for the nearly 6% of mobile time.

Consumers are increasingly multitasking across various screens. Fifty-seven percent of smartphone and tablet owners checked email while watching a TV program -- their top activity -- while 44% visited a social networking site.

Advertisers that are worried consumers might miss their message should note that 19% of smartphone and tablet owners searched for product information, and 16% looked up coupons or deals while the television was on.

While nearly all social media users -- 97% -- access social networking sites from their computers, NM Incite, a Nielsen McKinsey company, found that females are more likely than men to read social media content from their eReaders, while men are more likely than women to access their social content from an Internet-enabled TV or gaming console.

Also of note, by the end of 2011, NM Incite tracked over 181 million blogs around the world -- up from 36 million in 2006.

Three of the top 10 social networks in the U.S. during October of 2011 were true blogs -- Blogger, WordPress.com and Tumblr -- with a combined 80 million unique visitors. Among the top social networks, Tumblr has shown the strongest growth in visitors, more than doubling its audience from last year.

Mobile, meanwhile, is transforming into a powerful commerce tool, facilitating consumer transactions and access to real-time information and deals. Twenty-nine percent of smartphone owners use their phone for shopping-related activities and more than half of mobile users are repeat visitors to daily deal sites. 

The Groupon app is the 10th most popular app on the iOS platform and ranks 22nd on Android devices.

Finally, Nielsen warns that home entertainment landscape is becoming increasingly complex as consumers are presented with a greater variety of ways to consume content, especially with the addition of digital streaming and movie downloads via the Web.