We live in obvious times

Mon, 07/13/2009 - 3:31pm


15-year-old Matthew Robson made the FT's front page today with a refreshingly frank research note on the media habits of teenagers. The report written for Morgan Stanley offers insights on advertizing, technology preferences and media consumption using the remarkably young intern's own experiences with digital media and that of his friends'. Robson's work has reportedly generated a great deal of interest among media moguls and investors in London's City, and Edward Hill-Wood, head of the team that published the report, called it "thought-provoking." Highlights include:

Teenagers are consuming more media, but in entirely different ways and are almost certainly not prepared to pay for it. They resent intrusive advertizing on billboards, TV and the Internet. They are happy to chase content and music across platforms and devices (iPods, mobiles, streaming sites). Print media (newspapers, directories) are viewed as irrelevant.

Texting is still key and use of new data services limited due to cost.

Teenagers listen to a lot of music, mostly whist doing something else (like travelling or using a computer). They are VERY reluctant to pay for it (most never having bought a CD) and a large majority (8/10) downloading it illegally from file sharing sites.

Conclusions? Teenagers don't have any money and they like free things. Also, eight out of ten of Robson's friends are downloading music illegally.

Derek Berwin/Getty images

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Considering how often people

by jayeslos on Mon, 07/13/2009 - 6:25pm

Considering how often people make the assumption that teenagers have loads of "disposable income", it would be nice to see someone make the point that teenagers rely on their consumables being free to them. It's difficult for many teenagers to get jobs that pay an actual wage, and that's only getting worse in this economy.

The assumption that, if you charge a reasonable price (20 dollar CDs?! When CDs were *that cheap* to produce? who were they kidding? charging all the market would bear backfired spectacularly), they will come, works better for people with jobs rather than teenagers with severe restrictions on employment. When teenagers don't have that much money to begin with, it's often "free or nothing".

While an interesting report, there is an implicit bias towards teenagers with wealthy parents. It would be nice to see this report redone from the perspective of someone without this much privilege.

Thievery runs both ways

by Brian W on Tue, 07/14/2009 - 6:50am

Sure, teens these days may not like paying for CDs but they are paying $3.99 (or more) for a 10 second ring tone when they could have bought the whole down for $0.99 (or stolen it). And that text messaging services they are paying for run at a profit margin of around 4000% compared to the data plans they are shunning.

The real issue the report should be looking it is how out of touch the current business models in the entertainment industry are with the wants/needs/habits of the next generation. There are incredible profits to be made, just not selling the same old stuff the same old ways.