Teens Learn From Advertising on Social SitesOTX, releasing new results from its Teen Topix study, the complex lives of the 13 -17 year old set, found that teens are
spending an average of 11.5 hours online, doing everything from instant messaging and visiting social networking sites to shopping and listening to music, but dispels myths that this group wants to do
everything online.
Jane Buckingham, President, The Intelligence Group, concludes that "Teens are not a ‘one size fits all' market and the... report show this group to be
complex, sophisticated consumers and media users... "
Given the choice, though, teens prefer real friends to online friends, date someone from school over someone from the Internet, and
shop in a store to shop online,
Ranking Paired Preferences(Teens aged
13-17) |
Would you rather... | % or respondents | OR... | % of respondents |
Have a lot of "real
friends" | 91% | Have a lot of "online friends" | 9% |
Date someone you know from school | 87% | Date
someone you meet on the Internet | 13% |
Shop in a store | 82% | Shop online | 18% |
Watch a full length
program on TV | 81% | Watch a full length program online | 19% |
No television for a week | 74% | No Internet
for a week | 26% |
Get information from the Internet | 71% | Get information from traditional media like TV, magazines, or newspapers | 29% |
Give up cell phone texting | 71% | Give up Internet access | 29% |
Get your locker vandalized | 63% | Get your personal homepage of profile vandalized | 37% |
Be limited to a TV
antenna for watching TV | 63% | Be limited to a dial up connection to access the Internet | 37% |
IM your friend | 54% | Call
your friend | 46% |
Source: OTX, June 2008 |
The
study did find that 24% of teens are spending more than 15 hours a week online and when all teens were asked how frequently they do typical online activities, instant messaging came up as the most
frequent activity, followed by visiting social networking sites, email, searching, and visiting virtual community sites.
- 45% spent from 1 to less than 8 hours on line during a
typical week
- 31% from 8 to less than 15
- 24% 15
hours and over
Bruce Friend, President Media and Entertainment Insights for OTX, said "Many of (their) online
activities take place simultaneously... our Longitudinal Media Experience (LMX) study confirms that teenagers are often heavy simultaneous media users."
The study also says that
58% of teens have made a purchase online. On average teens who make purchases online are spending $46 per month, and 26% of teens are spending $50 or more. Clothes and music are the two most popular
online purchases, followed by books, electronics and DVDs.
The bedroom (36%) and living room (24%) are the places teens are most likely to have their primary computer. Teens with their
primary computer in their bedrooms are more likely to be heavy internet users (15+ hours per week) and spend money online.
Products Personally Purchased Online (Among teens who have purchased online) |
| % of Respondents (multiple response OK) |
Clothing, Shoes &
Accessories | 46% |
Music | 41% |
Books | 30% |
Electronics | 27% |
DVDs | 20% |
Source: OTX, June 2008 |
78% of teens are concerned about
computer viruses while online, followed by:
- Identity theft (67%)
- Unauthorized access to personal information (65%)
- Scams (60%)
- Spam (60%)
The average teen has signed up for over four social networking sites and currently belongs to two, reports the study. Teens are receptive to advertising on these sites, where the majority of teens
learn about:
- Financial services (63%)
- Movies in theaters (59%)
- Mobile services and accessories (58%)
- Travel (57%)
- Other websites (53%)
For more information please visit OTX here.