Are you tired of hearing that you are spending too much time online? The perception that teens and college students are the biggest consumers of Internet content is intractable-a largely unexamined assumption based on little more than anecdotal evidence. To learn more about young people's true media usage, you could turn to Nielsen Company research.
Your boss, Akiko Kimura, doesn't believe in stereotyping. She encourages her market researchers to be wary of all data. She asked you to explore so-called niche marketing opportunities in targeting teens, a notoriously fickle consumer group. Primarily, Ms. Kimura wants to know how teenagers spend their free time, and, more specifically, how they use media. Understanding teen behavior is invaluable for the success of any promotional or ad campaign.
A casual glance at the latest Nielsen numbers reveals surprising key findings: Teens watch more TV than ever and spend much less time browsing the Internet than adults twenty-five to thirty-four years of age do (11 hours versus the average of 29 hours, 15 minutes for adults). They also spend 35 percent less time watching online videos than adults do. In their preferences for TV shows, top Web sites, and across media, they mirror the tastes of their parents. They also read newspapers, listen to the radio, and like advertising more than most. In short, "teens are actually pretty normal in their usage and more attentive than most give them credit for," said Nic Covey, director of insights for The Nielsen Company.17
Prepare a brief informational e-mail report summarizing the main Nielsen findings. Address it to akiko.kimura@premier.com. Paraphrase correctly and don't just copy from the online report. Ms. Kimura may ask you to analyze more comprehensive data in an analytical report and create a media use profile of U.S. teens. You have already identified additional teenager-related Nielsen studies titled "Special Report: What Do Teens Want?," "Breaking Teen Myths," and "Teens Don't Tweet; Twitter's Growth Not Fueled by Youth."