Gen X Prizes: Media Use by 8 to 18 Year-Olds is Diverse and Surprising

Findings of recent research from national non-profit Common Sense
Media on media habits and preferences of tweens and teens presented to
ANA’s Alliance for Family Entertainment, collation of nation’s largest
national advertisers.

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Tweens and teens spend significant time with media and technology every
day — but that’s where the stereotypes stop. The Centennial generation
consumes more media than they create. There are considerable differences
in the way boys and girls engage with media; and all teens use a lot of
social media but it is not their favorite media pastime. These are some
of the surprising takeaways from the recent Common Sense Media Census of
tweens and teens media use, which was presented yesterday in an
exclusive webinar for members of the Association of National
Advertiser’s (ANA) Alliance for Family Entertainment (AFE).

The new study quantifies screen use, identifies unique types of users,
and uncovers patterns that could spark improvements in content, access,
and learning. The presentation was hosted by AFE Chairman and Walmart
CMO Stephen Quinn for the coalition’s members, who represent some of the
biggest brands in the world. The insight was presented to marketers by
Common Sense Media executive and child development expert Yalda T. Uhls,
Ph.D., author of Media Moms and Digital Dads.

“The study offers a new perspective of how tweens and teens are using
media,” Uhls said. “Some of the results support conventional wisdom
about how and how much our children use media. Other findings should
help marketers rethink assumptions about kids’ lives.”

Key findings from the presentation:

  • Teens (ages 13 to 18) use an average of 9 hours of entertainment per
    day; tweens (ages 8 to 12) use an average of 6 hours, not including
    time spent using media for school or homework.
  • On any given day, 34 percent of tweens and 23 percent of teens spend 2
    hours or less with screen time, while 26 percent of teens and 11
    percent of tweens spend more than 8 hours.
  • Teen boys average 56 minutes a day playing video games, compared to
    girls’ 7 minutes.
  • Girls spend 40 minutes more a day than boys on social media (1 hour 32
    minutes versus 52 minutes).
  • Black teens average 8 hours 36 minutes a day with screen media,
    compared with 6 hours 29 minutes among Hispanic teenagers, and 6 hours
    18 minutes among white teens.
  • Forty-five percent of all teens use social media every day but only 36
    percent say they enjoy using social media “a lot,” compared with 73
    percent who enjoy listening to music and 45 percent who enjoy watching
    TV “a lot.” Only 10 percent of teens chose social media as their
    favorite activity.

“As parents, we want to find ways to use media to support healthy
development, learning, and community building,” added Uhls. “It’s
encouraging to see marketers stepping up and educating themselves about
what their tween and teen consumers need and want from their media
options. We might conclude, for example, that given these findings the
true reason for social media consumption is not a desire to share but a
need to make connections in a complex and often-bewildering world.”

“These insights should result in significantly stronger brands with
marketing and media plans that will deliver the 10 percent ROI goals
that are established for each advertising member of the Alliance for
Family Entertainment,” said Jim Bechtold, co-leader of the ANA Alliance
for Family Entertainment.

“We cannot begin to craft responsible communications for American
families if we don’t understand how they feel about technology and media
and their usage patterns,” concluded Bob Liodice, ANA president and CEO.
“With these ongoing webinars, AFE members are able to develop a
detailed, 360-degree knowledge of parents and their kids and, even more
importantly, keep pace with the constant change that characterizes our
digital society.”

To review the complete study click here.

About Common Sense Media

Common Sense is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to
helping families and educators thrive in a world of media and
technology. We rate, educate, and advocate on behalf of kids, families,
and schools. Common Sense offers the world’s largest and most-trusted
library of age-based ratings and reviews of all types of content
targeted at kids, and our research-based curriculum and tools are used
in over 80,000 U.S. schools. For more information, go to: www.commonsense.org.

About the ANA and AFE

Association of National Advertisers (ANA)

The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) provides leadership that
advances marketing excellence and shapes the future of the industry.
Founded in 1910, the ANA’s membership includes more than 650 companies
with 10,000 brands that collectively spend over $250 billion in
marketing and advertising. The ANA also includes the Business
Marketing Association
(BMA) and the Brand
Activation Association
(BAA) which operate as divisions of the ANA.
The ANA advances the interests of marketers and promotes and protects
the well-being of the marketing community. For more information, visit www.ana.net,
follow us on Twitter,
or join us on Facebook.

ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment (AFE)

The AFE is a coalition of national advertisers with family brands
supported by the ANA, whose members represent more than $15 billion of
U.S. television ad spend. With members including American Licorice,
Campbell’s Soup, Clorox, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Crayola, FedEx,
Georgia Pacific, Kellogg, Kimberly-Clark, J.M. Smucker, Johnson &
Johnson, IBM, PepsiCo, Post Foods, Procter & Gamble, Rich Products
Corp., SC Johnson, Sensio, Six Flags, State Farm Insurance, SUBWAY®,
T-Mobile, TiVo, TracFone, Unilever, Verizon Wireless, Wendy’s, and
Walmart, the group’s mission is to find, nurture, and support
high-quality content the entire family can enjoy on multiple
distribution platforms. Since its inception in 1998, the AFE has
utilized its collective member strength to help bring to air more than
20 prime-time broadcast network television hits, kept innovative family
content in the development pipeline, teamed with YouTube for the
industry’s first family content partnership, and created the Search for
America’s Newest Scriptwriter contest, the nation’s leading competition
for storytellers of tomorrow. For more information visit anaafe.net.

Contacts

ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment
Patty Kerr, 310-344-4487
pkerr-cw@ana.net
or
Crista
Sumanik, 415-553-6780
csumanik@commonsense.org

Recibe gratis las noticias más importantes y más leídas diariamente en tu email

Este sitio está protegido por reCAPTCHA y Google Política de privacidad y Se aplican las Condiciones de servicio.

¡Muchas gracias!

Más sobre este tema
Contenido Patrocinado
Enlaces patrocinados por Outbrain