Yahoo! and OMD Global Study Finds Youth Love Personalized Media
According to an in-depth study of 13-24 year olds in 11 countries titled, “Truly, Madly, Deeply Engaged: Global Youth, Media and Technology,” released by Yahoo! and OMD Worldwide, youth’s use of interactive and wireless technologies has created a global generation highly accustomed to personalizing their experiences with interactive media. This so-called “My Media Generation,” driven by a desire to personalize their media, has given rise to very different attitudes and responses toward advertising and marketing messages.
In terms that apply to blogging as well as podcasting:
“We’ve moved from broadcasting to podcasting in just a short period of time,” says Wenda Harris Millard, chief sales officer, Yahoo!. “The My Media Generation increasingly filters the flow of advertising messages — letting in only those that are relevant, entertaining, or delivering value. While that raises serious challenges for marketers, it also brings the promise of new, more powerful channels for reaching youth and having them willingly and enthusiastically engage with brands.”
The study showed that as advertising channels become more personal, receptivity to seeing or hearing advertising through that channel decreases. Advertising in traditional media is generally considered more acceptable to youth than advertising in new media channels. However, receptivity to advertising via “their” media (established media), vs. “our” media (the Web) vs. “my” medium (personal devices) varies considerably by country. In fact, in some countries, receptivity to advertising in new media is higher than receptivity to advertising in some traditional media outlets. Sixty three percent of Indian youth agree that it is okay to see advertising on web sites, while only half (51 percent – 52 percent) found advertising acceptable on outdoor, movie theaters or radio.
In other interesting findings:
— The Internet has surpassed radio as the preferred medium for music among youth in all countries. This preference is especially pronounced outside the United States. Specifically, among American youth, 47 percent prefer the Internet for music compared to 27 percent that prefer the radio. In many other countries, approximately 60 percent of youth prefer the Internet for music compared to 20 percent that prefer the radio.