Copyrights reserved – HDI, Youth Marketeers, B. H. van den Berg, 2007 Chapter 9
9.1. MEDIA
Media in the world of the young consumer
‘It is more important than ever to measure people’s media experience, because the different ways in which the public uses the various media affect the way in which they process the message’. (Edith Smith, Peter Neijens – 2004)
For our young urban consumers, media brands feature amongst the most important of brands because in today’s information overloaded world our youth have become voracious information consumers and also exceptionally well-skilled in media selectivity. This ability in the selection of media, is related to their level of personal motivation based on relevance to their personal current and future world – and young people today are better at it than adults. The relationship between content and context (current and future) is extremely important and will determine at which point the young person stops pressing the remote control, stops flipping through pages, takes a moment to “get into” a topic or stops to browse an item in a store.
The bottom-line is that adults should not underestimate the highly developed skills of young consumers to seek out media that offer “value” and discard or ignore those that they perceive as “clutter”, discern between those that are “real entertainment” from those that deliver boring “edutainment” that parents feel may be appealing. These media selective information junkies appreciate useful promotional content with contextual relevance while avoiding and discarding promotional content that offers them little contextual relevance.
What we see having evolved as a preference in media over the past three years and observe as a significant urban trend this year, is that the young media consumer is shifting preference to those media brands and offerings that have innovated the presentation of information. This may be illustrated through the employment of interesting narrative techniques (stories, personal experiences and expert opinion from like-minded, like-aged, non-technical, (but savvy) lifestyle ‘media peers’.
This shift in demand is driven partly by the popular Karaoke and RAP movement that encourages young people to use their ability to speak or sing to a simple rythm and participate in delivering a message to an audience. It is not only seen in music, but has pervaded much of youth culture and is reflected in job preferences, the online oxygen lifestyle related to blogging, opinion webs, chat rooms, YouTube and other new media options that empower the youth as spokespeople or just simply getting their opinions out there as a way of seeking recognition and connection.
“Media Peers” vs. Journalists
Call them what you wish to – but appropriate, lifestyle focussed journalists that connect with the youth are as much an accepted ‘peer’ today as the buddy that goes to the mall with them each week. If, as a journalist, the focus is on connection with the values and culture of the youth and can speak with them rather than at them, you are the ‘media peer’ they seek. Media peers may be: DJ’s, TV Presenters, celebrity or reporter.)
If you go to the same places, treat their opinions with respect and with due consideration of their personal uniqueness – your ‘peer status’ is entrenched.
“But being a ‘peer’ means that I have an equal opportunity to view my opinions in the circle. I therefore need a platform (like you – the journalist) to say my say – so open up (the publication) and let me say it to the world and be recognised”. Young Adult male (19)
Media in a world of hyper abundance where attention span is the only scarcity:
Media brands need to change and adapt rapidly to this change. Media brands that have achieved this adaptation and a balance between providing “relevant complexity” with “appropriate simplicity”, (to an audience that has an attention span as flexible as media technology itself), will be the winners of attention in a world of hyper abundance, where time and attention span are the only real scarcities.
Without question this youth generation in South Africa is truly the media generation, devoting more than a quarter of each day to media. Last years Khuza Media Consumption Survey shows that the average 8-22 year old has to an estimated six to eight hours of media exposure every day, with multi-media usage (on new digital devices) pushing this up to at least eight hours a day. In other words, this is truly the 'media generation' – a generation that devotes more than a quarter of each day to media
As media devices become increasingly, portable, and as they spread even further through young people's environments – from their school, to their cars, to their pockets, for example, cellphones with television, audio, and print, video gaming and online capabilities media messages will become an even more ubiquitous presence in an already media-saturated world.
Anything that takes up this much space in young peoples lives deserves our full attention!
Media preference and purpose:
From research we conducted in 2006 we can estimate that television remains the primary medium of the youth (up to 5 hours, per day) accounting for approximately 40% of all media exposure with computers remaining the lowest at less than 5%. It would appear that youths are spending more and more time with media content tailored especially to them, in the absence of adult presence.
Youngsters use television and radio to source trends, discover new products and develop role models. They also use these as a diversion from daily stresses and worries, often rating these and movies as their favourite pastime.
Radio, remains an integral, but declining part of the lives of young people It is cheap and easy to access. There are multiple reasons why young consumers tune-in to radio, to feel good, to relax as background during travel time or while doing homework, before going to bed and as leisure entertainment with friends.
With regards to print media, the voluntary reading of books is a low priority among young consumers, who mostly read magazines – their favourites often including popular adult titles, for example, Cosmopolitan and FHM. As they move through teenagehood, our youth place greater emphasis on television and music as an entertainment / leisure medium, rather than reading of any nature. There are, nevertheless, many youngsters who love to read and who will be avid readers for the rest of their lives.
Importantly, the environment within which young people encounter the media has a significant influence on their behaviour towards the media. Kids whose parents maintain a level of control regarding the amount and nature of media exposure are generally better able to achieve a balance between media interaction and other activities. Media at home shapes the socialisation of the child.
The Comparative Use and Impact of TV, Print and Radio Media
If one adds up the TV, Radio and Reading plus time spent on computers, listening to CD’s and watching DVD’s, more than 50% of the children's overall leisure time and even more than 70% of indoor leisure time is spent on media usage, resulting in leisure time is now media time! It is necessary to take into consideration that most of this leisure time is spent indoors (more than four hours), because a relevant share of the spare time is in the evenings when these young people are at home.
In total, most children can select from a very wide range of media contents at a time. But selecting means either active choosingor passive finding. Media usage can be triggered by the desire for specific content, or can merely be the reaction to boredom.
9.2TELEVISION AND PROGRAMMES
Preferred Viewing Topics
Televisionis a great substitute for boredom. However, young people show little tolerance for 'bad' programmes. If one programme does not satisfy the demands of the young viewer immediately, the channel is instantly switched. Preferred topics on television were identified by asking respondents….”If you only had one day to watch TV – what would you watch?” – The response was Movies, followed by Cartoons and then International music videos and sport. (Refer to the table below for detailed data).
Table 9.2.1
”If you only had one day to watch TV – what would you watch?” / Tweens / Teens / Young Adults / ALL TOTAL1 / Movies / 49.7 / 50.8 / 41.2 / 46.9
2 / Cartoons / 49.9 / 30.2 / 23.1 / 34.1
3 / International Music Videos / 26.5 / 37.0 / 31.2 / 31.8
4 / Live Sport / 13.2 / 15.7 / 19.8 / 16.9
5 / Local Music Videos / 15.1 / 15.2 / 10.0 / 13.6
6 / Reality Shows / 8.5 / 11.9 / 18.9 / 12.6
7 / SA Soapies / 10.2 / 13.2 / 12.9 / 11.9
8 / Situation Comedies / 6.7 / 12.3 / 15.2 / 11.5
9 / News / 5.7 / 10.7 / 12.9 / 9.9
10 / Fashion programmmes / 8.6 / 11.0 / 1.1 / 9.0
Irrespective of age, it is true that the top 3 choices remain the top 3; but just change order slightly, with cartoons replacing Movies in first slot for Tweens.
9.3COOLEST TV CHANNEL
The coolest channel for the whole youth market remains MTV (for the 3rd year in a row) whilst the DisneyChannel takes 2nd place. Whilst this may seem strange, note that the relative percentage of respondents by age range differs so significantly, that the mere size of the Tween respondents who elected Disney Channel, have steamrolled the channel into second place.
Table 9.3.1:
COOLEST TV CHANNEL: / Tweens / Teens / Young Adults / ALL TOTAL1 / 85 MTV / 9.26 / 19.17 / 16.63 / 15.08
2 / 82 Disney Channel / 32.63 / 9.76 / 4.37 / 14.95
3 / 46 SABC 1 / 12.95 / 17.00 / 13.10 / 14.57
4 / 88 MTV Base / 11.05 / 15.37 / 14.97 / 13.89
5 / 49 e.tv / 12.98 / 17.54 / 9.36 / 13.50
6 / 87 Channel O / 7.09 / 10.85 / 13.10 / 10.41
7 / 3 M-Net / 8.08 / 12.12 / 11.02 / 10.36
8 / 83 Cartoon Network / 14.11 / 8.86 / 6.65 / 9.78
9 / 4 M-Net Movies 1 / 7.34 / 7.78 / 12.68 / 8.99
10 / 41 E Entertainment / 4.77 / 7.96 / 12.27 / 8.08
MTV’s preference is significantly stronger in both Eastern and Western Cape, but generally at the expense of MTV Base. The popularity is biased to more girls in the sample. MTV Base on the other hand is significantly biased to Black and Coloured young viewers.
SABC 1 is popular irrespective of age group and primarily amongst Black respondents (28% vs. <3% of other race groups) and is the leading channel in the KZN region.
M-NET Movies and E-Entertainment Channel viewing is slightly biased to females whilst sport channels and Channel O are biased to male respondents. Note too (in the above table) how each channel seems to have a unique age profile of preference.
9.4COOLEST TV MUSIC CHANNEL
Table 9.4.1:
COOLEST TV MUSIC CHANNEL: / Tweens / Teens / Young Adults / ALL TOTAL1 / 85 MTV / 40.85 / 41.59 / 47.19 / 42.79
2 / 88 MTV Base / 46.13 / 41.77 / 36.38 / 41.37
3 / 87 Channel O / 35.66 / 41.41 / 39.29 / 38.91
4 / DMX Music / 26.91 / 18.99 / 13.72 / 19.86
5 / 86 VH1 / 9.27 / 7.96 / 12.89 / 9.87
6 / 89 MK89 / 6.46 / 8.68 / 7.48 / 7.62
Clearly music rules in the TV topic stakes and there is clearly a huge tousle looming between the popularities of two offerings.
Whilst it is reported that radio is a medium that is slipping out of favour in some sectors of the youth market – it is interesting to note that DMX Music Channel achieves the popularity it does – indicating that almost 1 in 5 young people identify it as a preferred music channel – despite the lack of a visual reference.
9.5COOLEST TV PROGRAMME
Table 9.5.1
COOLEST TV PROGRAMME: / Tweens / Teens / Young Adults / ALL TOTAL1 / Prison Break / 11.95 / 17.36 / 25.78 / 18.58
2 / Eve / 17.92 / 18.99 / 10.81 / 15.93
3 / Friends / 12.53 / 16.64 / 15.80 / 15.15
4 / Suite Life of Zack & Cody / 32.96 / 6.15 / 2.29 / 13.11
5 / 2 and a Half Men / 13.88 / 10.49 / 12.27 / 12.41
6 / CSI / 7.02 / 11.03 / 16.42 / 11.50
7 / The Simpsons / 16.20 / 9.22 / 7.48 / 10.93
8 / 7th Heaven / 8.43 / 10.13 / 6.86 / 8.40
9 / Desperate Housewives / 5.09 / 9.22 / 11.02 / 8.17
10 / Las Vegas / 5.80 / 9.04 / 8.11 / 7.86
This year,Prison Break moves to 1st place from 3rd beating out Friends to 3rd position.
As one can predict – some of the preferred programmes this year are different to those of last year as the line-up changes continuously. Newcomers include Eve and Suite life of Jack and Cody. However an old favourite The Simpson’s, finds its way back into the rankings at 7th place.
The tables that follow indicate other programme preferences by programme genre and age range. They indicate the rank order of preference for the total sample of respondents (1st to 10th positions inclusive) achieved for this year’s poll.
9.6COOLEST CARTOON SHOWS
Table 9.6.1:
COOLEST CARTOON SHOWS: / Tweens / Teens / Young Adults / ALL TOTAL1 / Sponge Bob Squarepants / 16.35 / 20.61 / 18.50 / 18.60
2 / Ed Edd & Eddy / 10.78 / 8.86 / 8.52 / 9.43
3 / Sabrina / 8.75 / 11.39 / 8.52 / 9.34
4 / Dexters Lab / 4.99 / 9.22 / 12.06 / 8.99
5 / Scooby-Doo / 7.11 / 8.50 / 11.43 / 8.99
6 / American Dragon / 12.84 / 8.14 / 3.33 / 8.09
7 / Cow & Chicken / 3.35 / 7.23 / 13.31 / 7.97
8 / Kim Possible / 11.57 / 6.51 / 6.24 / 7.92
9 / Hannah Montana / 15.24 / 6.87 / 1.25 / 7.64
10 / Johnny Bravo / 2.43 / 5.61 / 14.55 / 7.62
10 / Cheetah Girls 2 / 15.86 / 4.16 / 2.49 / 7.25
9.7 COOLEST TV SOAP
Table 9.7.1:
COOLEST TV SOAP: / Tweens / Teens / Young Adults / ALL TOTAL1 / Generations / 36.64 / 36.89 / 32.85 / 35.72
2 / 7de Laan / 27.59 / 26.40 / 19.54 / 24.27
3 / Isidingo / 8.91 / 16.82 / 31.19 / 19.09
4 / Days of Our Lives / 17.45 / 20.07 / 19.75 / 18.84
5 / Backstage / 21.28 / 16.64 / 9.56 / 15.97
6 / Passions / 15.45 / 16.09 / 6.65 / 12.70
7 / The Bold and the Beautiful / 8.06 / 7.59 / 19.33 / 11.37
8 / Egoli / 11.62 / 10.67 / 8.11 / 10.09
9 / Muvhango / 9.04 / 10.67 / 7.28 / 9.09
10 / Scandal / 7.35 / 5.06 / 4.57 / 5.69
The above category has always been hotly contested and it is apparent that there is a real race for popularity between Generations, 7de Laan and Isidingo – as Backstage has fallen from grace with the teens and especially the young adult age range.
Generations achieves the top slot because it has relevance to a wider audience in terms of age and appeals largely to a Black audience, irrespective of gender – whilst 7de Laan cater mostly for a large Coloured and White contingent of respondents.
9.8.1COOLEST CARTOON SHOWS
Table 9.8.1:
COOLEST REALITY TV: / Tweens / Teens / Young Adults / ALL TOTAL1 / Fear Factor / 47.14 / 38.16 / 27.23 / 37.91
2 / Survivor / 36.52 / 33.27 / 31.81 / 34.06
3 / Extreme Make-Over Home Edition / 24.18 / 19.35 / 15.80 / 19.45
4 / Amazing Race / 19.58 / 17.18 / 21.00 / 19.39
5 / Idols SA /UK/USA / 15.15 / 15.19 / 23.28 / 17.56
6 / Extreme Make-Over / 12.78 / 16.83 / 17.67 / 15.39
7 / The Bachelor/Bachelorette / 8.75 / 13.38 / 13.10 / 11.51
8 / The Apprentice / 5.60 / 9.76 / 18.50 / 11.38
9 / Popstars / 11.85 / 13.56 / 8.73 / 11.36
10 / Renovate My Family / 2.97 / 3.62 / 2.29 / 2.98
9.9.1COOLEST TV TALK SHOW
Table 9.9.1:
COOLEST TV TALK SHOW: / Tweens / Teens / Young Adults / ALL TOTAL1 / Oprah / 31.93 / 40.69 / 48.02 / 39.67
2 / Tyra Banks / 35.47 / 35.99 / 21.00 / 30.48
3 / Top Billing / 20.39 / 18.44 / 23.91 / 20.89
4 / Carte Blanche / 13.33 / 15.73 / 22.87 / 17.59
5 / RickiLake / 18.62 / 19.35 / 12.47 / 16.84
6 / Doctor Phil / 14.06 / 14.29 / 18.50 / 15.38
7 / Special Assignment / 6.53 / 11.03 / 13.51 / 10.79
8 / 3 Talk with Noleen / 7.47 / 7.05 / 7.07 / 7.09
9 / Hip 2B2 / 9.17 / 7.05 / 2.91 / 6.53
10 / Blue Couch / 10.07 / 5.06 / 2.08 / 5.69
9.10.1COOLEST KIDS TV SHOW
Table 9.10.1:
COOLEST KIDS TV SHOW: / Tweens / Teens / Young Adults / ALL TOTAL1 / Cartoon Network / 34.40 / 38.70 / 48.23 / 40.26
2 / Disney / 44.62 / 39.06 / 35.97 / 39.44
3 / Yo TV / 15.83 / 21.70 / 15.18 / 17.76
4 / Craz-e / 18.38 / 19.35 / 11.85 / 16.79
5 / KTV / 15.77 / 16.09 / 14.35 / 15.53
6 / Tube / 9.81 / 10.85 / 7.48 / 9.53
7 / Boomerang / 8.46 / 5.06 / 8.32 / 7.09
8 / K All Day / 6.09 / 1.99 / 3.12 / 3.61
Coolest Kids TV Show is an interesting category since one would expect the results for the Young Adults and Teens to be relatively low for many of the Kids Programming – yet, observe the 35% score for the Disney Channel and the 14% for KTV from Young Adults.
“Its like a really cool fish-bowl you can laugh at…” - Male Teen
We confirm in this survey that as far as Cartoon Network is concerned there is still a significant number of Young Adults and Teens that mindlessly muse over the cartoons on this channel.
This may not mean that they watch the channel – but as adults they still indicate a preference.
9.11PRINT MEDIA – NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES
The usage of print media usually happens in a completely different context to that of television – as it requires far more effort and concentration than watching. In most cases, print media is chosen actively, and the level of involvement is high.
-Reading for informationand understanding such as for homework is normally associated with very high involvement and is more often the primary activity and for many respondents the only media activity they can do.
-Reading for pleasure / leisure is normally involved with extra-curricular books or more often, magazines. Generally this type of reading is a primary activity with the second activity being listening to the radio or a music center (CD’s). Whilst the level of involvement is still relatively high, a secondary activity is preferred.
Unlike TV, print media does not offer easy access to a great variety of different contents, but tends to specialise in specific subjects – and for this reason is a more individualised, age relevant and information rich medium than TV or radio. The youth know and appreciate this, and it enables them to select the print media best suited to satisfy their individual lifestyle preferences interests.
Reading and interacting with print media is much more demanding than watching TV or listening to audio (music or radio). The use of the print media's content can be split up for gradual consumption. Print media do not have to be read every day and can be used far more selectively and purposefully than TV or radio. When one has them at home, one can read them whenever and wherever one likes. For this reason, the variations in the usage of print are more flexible and personalised than the usage of TV.
In the past three years we have noted that magazine titles are very gender specific – but over the past two years we have observed a very significant shift of magazine preferences by age emerging. Whereas a magazine was a resource in the past that mom or dad handed to the ‘Kids’ to look at after content approval– magazines are more targeted and title preferences are becoming more age specific and less parent dependant.
Much talk amongst Teens and some Young Adults this year has been about the development and increase in access that young readers are getting to mobizines – yet as much qualitative talk is occurring between young mobizine readers about the style, presentation and content of materials available from the different mobizine brands as they are talking about how these tend to be a copy of the printed version – an execution of the format that just does not gel with their thinking i.e. ‘It is too cumbersome – it needs to be quicker, leaner and punchier’.
9.11.1 COOLEST MAGAZINE
Table 9.11.1:
COOLEST MAGAZINES: / Tweens / Teens / Young Adults / ALL TOTAL1 / heat / 17.46 / 15.01 / 7.69 / 13.23
2 / FHM / 3.94 / 10.67 / 18.71 / 11.85
3 / Cosmopolitan / 0.44 / 9.40 / 23.91 / 10.40
4 / You/Huisgenoot / 12.93 / 11.03 / 7.28 / 10.37
5 / Car / 18.12 / 6.87 / 6.24 / 10.31
6 / Seventeen / 9.28 / 15.73 / 6.03 / 10.10
7 / People / 11.45 / 11.57 / 6.44 / 9.78
8 / Speed & Sound / 8.56 / 9.95 / 7.28 / 9.01
9 / Drum / 7.80 / 9.76 / 8.94 / 8.97
10 / True Love / 5.63 / 10.13 / 10.60 / 8.46
Other print media, such as newspapers, are not as relevant for 8-14 year olds and are therefore rarely used by them. This is confirmed by the results this year that indicate that almost 50% of Young Adults prefer the Sunday Times (relative to a smaller proportion of Teens and Tweens). Black and Coloured respondents tend to read newspapers more often than books since they have greater access to newspapers than they have to books.