Kids like us
Research compiled by Clyde Bentley
It's not just for grownups anymore: Are you getting hipper or are your teens just looking more like you? Even a Facebook account won't make you a rock star, but at least you can take solace in the recent findings that the young are not so different from the young at heart. The Nielsen Company released a study last month that indicates that teenagers actually use the news media in much the same way as older generations. This is somewhat of a numbers trick, as "the media experience is broadening for all consumers," noted Nic Covey, Nielsen's director of insights. That said, the findings of the study flew in the face of popular assumptions:
- Teens watch more TV than ever and are not abandoning the tube for the computer screen.
- The big-time browsers of the Web are adults, not teens. The average American computer user spends just over 29 hours a month online. Teens spend less than half that -- 11 1/2 hours.
- Print is dead for the young generation right? Actually, the survey indicated that more than a quarter of teens read a paper daily and that a third read the Sunday paper.
- Despite iTunes, MP3 players and Pandora, radio is still the biggest source of music for teens.
- Nielsen not only provides surprises, but also provides a free download of the report details. It's a good read.
Even with apps? Nielsen released a second report demonstrating that the iPhone is also an older-consumer item. The Nielsen iPhone study indicates that only 5% of iPhone users are 13-17 and only 13% are 18-24. The big group was 35-54 years old, making up 36% of iPhone users.
The good news in the report for convergence departments is an indication that nearly 40% of iPhone users watch video on the phone. A more problematic statistic is that twice as many iPhone users are in the $100,000-plus income level than is found among all cell users. While that is nice for marketers, it means editors may need to look beyond the apps to reach a broad market with mobile news.
A similar Forrester Reseach study is both contradictory and complementary. Forrester says iPhone users are actually younger than most, baking that with statistics showing more of them are Gen Y members than owners of other smartphones. But he report also agrees with Nielsen that iPhone users are the economic elite among cell phone users with incomes considerably higher than the norm.
It's in the (e)mail - Another report -- this time from ROI Research -- shakes up the popular perception of "hot" media. Globally, the digital communication medium of choice is not the Web-page or telephone but e-mail. In the U.S., 87% of respondents named e-mail as their primary way to correspond. The same answer came from 74% of Europeans and 58% of Asia-Pacific residents. Permission-based e-mail (PBE) is growing rapidly as a means of advertising and information and is one of the best ways to get a response. That's good news for news outlets experimenting with e-mail editions. PBE has much the same impact as subscription print -- when people ask for it, they read it. Another note from the ROI study is worth reading twice -- the major factor in getting Americans to open an e-mail is the "from" line, not the "subject" line. A credible reputation goes a long way.
Does it click? Newspapers build that credible reputation by coupling good reporting with strong editing and fact-checking, right? Not with their online editions, an Oregon professor found.
John Russial, my friend at the University of Oregon and one of the best editing professors in the country, surveyed 155 U.S. newspapers to find out how they edit their online stories. Not much, it seems. Only about half always copy edit online stories and 15% said they never edit online stories. The low priority for editing online stories held no matter what the newspaper's size. The study is in the July edition of Newspaper Research Journal.
The top excuses for going to the Web raw were the delay editing would cause in posting stories and the lack of staff to do the editing. Nearly 20% of the papers, however, said their reporters already do a good enough job. That raises questions about the traditional assumption that quality decreases as editing efforts do. Documenting the impact of the spotty online editing norm will take more research, Russial said.
Double up - The Media Audit says American adults have almost doubled their daily use of the Internet over the past three year. Web use at now accounts for about a third of the U.S. "media day." Heartaches for newspaper publishers? Maybe not. The Media Audit also found that some papers are capitalizing on the fact that even heavy print newspaper readers spend 3.7 hours online. By focusing on a combined print/online product, seven papers in the May audit topped 80% unduplicated reach in their markets. Topping the list was the New Orleans Times Picayune with an incredible combined reach of 85.8% of its market. The Times Picayune Web edition, nola.com, was also ranked the top daily newspaper site.
Other papers blanketing their markets one way or another were Syracuse, Buffalo, Omaha, Rochester, San Antonio and Peoria. Media Audit said the papers not only combine and older print audience with a younger online audience via their news sections, but they effectively use Web special sections to reel in people who otherwise avoid newspapers.
Old news, good news - Finally, here is a comforting surprise ending from the Pew Research Center: Growing old is not as bad as most of us think it will be. The center surveyed nearly 3,000 Americans about their perceptions of aging. They compared the expectations of the young with what truly old Americans said about their lives. Younger people way over-shoot the actual frequency for losing memory, losing access to the car and having a serious illness when you are 65 and even senior sex lives. (While more than a third of those young-but-nervous people in the wings thought libido retires when you do, only 21% of respondents 65 and above said they are no longer sexually active). "Young at heart" even proved to be more than a sappy saying: 60% of the 65+ Americans studied by Pew said they feel younger than their age.
While the report is fun to read, it reflects poorly on the American news media. Whenever popular perception is that far from reality, a good part of the blame goes to those of us charged with painting the daily American portrait. Much of the talk I hear within the media is about the young generations we are afraid of losing. But meanwhile, the big demographic bump has graying hair and maturing IRAs. Well-crafted and accurate stories from the older side of our audience make good reading across the ages.
Obviously, however, we haven't done a great job with the accuracy part.
Contact Me:
E-mail - bentleycl@missouri.edu Twitter: http://twitter.com/MizzouBentley