What every 15-year-old knows about media
Here’s what Mathew Robson, a a 15-year-old in the UK, wrote in a report for Morgan Stanley that has high-paid researchers, media execs and financial analysts wondering what they do for a living:
Radio: With online sites streaming music for free they do not bother, as services such as last.fm do this advert free and users can choose the songs they want instead of listening to what the radio presenter/DJ chooses.
Newspapers: No teenager that I know of regularly reads a newspaper, as most do not have the time and cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of text while they could watch the news summarised on the internet or on TV
Internet: Facebook is the most common, with nearly everyone with an internet connection registered. On the other hand, teenagers do not use Twitter
Music: They are very reluctant to pay for it (most having never bought a CD) Teenagers from higher income families use iPods and those from lower income families use mobile phones
Directories: Real directories contain listings for builders and florists, which are services teenagers do not require. They can get the information free on the internet
Viral/Outdoor Marketing: “Most teenagers enjoy and support viral marketing… Teenagers see adverts on websites (pop-ups, banner ads) as extremely annoying and pointless…they are portrayed in such a negative light that no one follows them.”
Cinema: Teenagers visit the cinema more often when they are in the lower end of teendom but as they approach 15 they go to the cinema a lot less. This is because of the pricing; at 15 they have to pay the adult price. Also it is possible to buy a pirated DVD of the film at the time of release, and these cost much less than a cinema ticket
Edward Hill-Wood, executive director of Morgan Stanley’s European media team called Mathew’s report “one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen.” The report has generated five to six times more interest than any other coming out of the bank’s European media team, with dozens of fund managers and CEOs requesting a copy.
The original story, published first on times Online, is here:
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