America Online.
Contrary to the common belief that teenagers control use of the home computer,
two major online research firms has found they actually spend far less time
online than adults do.
What this means, said researchers Jupiter Research and Media Metrix, Inc, is that online advertisers wanting to attract the attention of these teen users need to work harder than ever.
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“While the online teen population is expected to continue to increase, teens will still spend a limited amount of time online,” said Anya Sacharow, Jupiter’s analyst for children and teenage markets. “Businesses that target this audience must evaluate their content and offer elements that these teens want in order to capture any part of that limited time.”
According to research released by Jupiter and Media Metrix this fall, teens spend an average of 303 minutes online per month compared to the adult average of 728 minutes per month.
The study showed that teenagers ages 12 to 17 spend an average of 303 minutes online over eight days per month versus younger adults, ages 18 to 34, who spend an average of 656 minutes over 13 days per month. Adults ages 35 to 49 spend an average of 804 minutes over 15 days per month, according to the study.
Analysts at Jupiter Research conclude that while teens are early adopters of the Internet who like to experiment with new and innovative online products, their low Internet use can be traced to active school and after-school activities. Researchers also trace their usage to the fact that teens have to share online time at home with other family members and their perception of the Internet as an entertainment and communicating tool, not one to be used for productivity.
The Jupiter Media Metrix researchers also said that while teenage boys and girls are represented equally online there are significant differences in the way each group uses the Internet. Teen boys focus on technology, entertainment and time diversions, seeking out games, building Web pages, downloading software and downloading music files, while teen girls are more goal-oriented in their surfing, gravitating toward reading online periodicals, sending electronic greetings, doing homework and taking part in communication.
The study showed that teen girls also have a high affinity for off-line brands both in media and shopping and that teen boys surf more actively than teen girls, visiting a wider number of sites. Males averaged 301.2 unique page views and females averaged 271 – and boys on average visited 47 domains whereas girls visited 32.
“Girls follow off-line brands online, but boys just want what they are looking for and don’t seem to care where it comes from,” Sacharow said, adding that in order to reach teens, advertisers online should use gender-based offerings whenever possible. “Strong branding and alliances with online networks sway teen girls. Teen boys are technophiles largely and will look for any aspect of gaming,” Sacharow said.
The statistics on teens spending the least amount of time online were shocking to one local teacher and administrator, who said the data doesn’t support his own experience.
“I’m sort of surprised,” said John Bilotta, technical director for schools in South Kingstown, adding that his own son must be “an anomaly,” since Nicholas Bilotta, 16, spends “easily an average of an hour a day” online, some of it doing schoolwork “and a lot of it” with friends, courtesy of AOL’s instant messaging.
“You know, teenage stuff,” Bilotta said, picturing his “multi-tracking” son conversing with three or four friends on-line while talking to somebody else on the telephone. “He’s like totally wired and capable of dealing with that.”
Bilotta said that because online usage is only expected to increase – the University of Rhode Island Research Institute of Telecommunications and Information Marketing says about half of Rhode Island households have computers, with 75 percent of these households hooked up to the Internet – the amount of time young people spend online will only increase as well.
“Once you have the availability I’m sure the numbers would go up for all kids,” Bilotta said, adding that “I’d be interested in knowing where they got their statistics, especially with all this Napster stuff” going on, where it can take at least 15 minutes to download a piece of music. “That’s why I’m surprised, quite frankly.”
Susan Berman, assistant director of the North Kingstown Free Library, said that while “we do have a lot of use here by kids,” there is no preponderance of online usage by any particular age category.
“We get plenty of use by both groups,” teens and adults, Berman said, with older teens age 14 and up typically requesting use of one of their six Internet stations to do homework as well as for “entertainment” reasons.
Michael M. Doyle, president of advertising agency RDW Group in Providence, said that while “if you’re a meaningful presence today [you] can’t afford not to have a presence on the Internet,” its viability for various types of advertisers “has yet to be flushed out.”
Regarding the Jupiter Media Metrix research, Doyle said “I think it’s correct that Internet use is not a phenomenon for the young.”
In June, Jupiter and Media Metrix announced they would merge to create the global leader in Internet information services. This teen research was unveiled in September. Copies of the report containing the research findings are available at www.jup.com or www.mediametrix.com.
