Third article this week about the changing landscape of media. I have enough grey in my hair that nobody would mistake me for a 20 year old, but I think this phenomena applies to a wider swath of the population as well. Also advertising is so pervasive that any method for removing some of it is welcomed (Tivo, web ad blockers, using iPods instead of commercial radio, yadda yadda). Simply identifying where to reach potential consumers isn't enough - you have to have compelling content.
Anway:
A Generation Serves Notice: It's a Moving Target
Many people in their 20's are abandoning traditional media channels, posing a challenge to marketers trying to reach them....Advertisers and media and technology companies, mindful that young consumers have migrated away from the traditional carriers of their messages, have begun to find new ways to reach them. They are creating advertising and short videos for mobile phones, for instance, cell networks with dedicated game channels, and $1.99 TV programs to download to iPods and PC's.
And while the emerging generation's deftness with technology is a given, researchers say the most potent byproduct may be the feedback factor, which only accelerates the cycles of what's hot and what's over.
“We think that the single largest differentiator in this generation from previous generations is the social network that is people's lives, the part of it that technology enables,” said Jack McKenzie, a senior vice president at Frank N. Magid Associates, a market research and consulting firm specializing in the news media and entertainment industries.
“What's hard to measure, and what we're trying to measure,” Mr. McKenzie continued, “is the impact of groupthink, of group mentality, and the tendency of what we might call the democratization of social interaction and how that changes this generation's relationship with almost everything they come in contact with.”
Among those with access to the Internet, for instance, e-mail services are as likely to be used by teenagers (89 percent) as by retirees (90 percent), according to Pew researchers. Creating a blog is another matter. Roughly 40 percent of teenage and 20-something Internet users do so, but just 9 percent of 30-somethings. Nearly 80 percent of online teenagers and adults 28 and younger report regularly visiting blogs, compared with just 30 percent of adults 29 to 40. About 44 percent of that older group sends text messages by cellphone, compared with 60 percent of the younger group.
Tags: Advertising, /media
