MTV, Nickelodeon and Microsoft challenges assumption about relationship between kids and Digital

New York/London, 24 July 2007: The average Chinese young person has 37 online friends he or she has never met, Indian youth are most likely to see mobile phones as a status symbol, whilst one in three UK and US teenagers say they can’t live without their games console.

 

Globally, the average young person connected to digital technology has 94 phone numbers in his or her mobile, 78 people on a messenger buddy list and 86 people in their social networking community.  Yet despite their technological immersion, digi-kids are not geeks - 59% of 8-14 year-old kids still prefer their TV to their PC’s and only 20% of 14-24 year-old young people globally admitted to being ‘interested’ in technology.  They are, however, expert multi-taskers and able to filter different channels of information.

 

These are just some of the findings from the largest-ever global study undertaken by MTV and Nickelodeon, in association with Microsoft Advertising, into how kids and young people interact with digital technology.  The Circuits of Cool/Digital Playground technology and lifestyle study challenges traditional assumptions about their relationships with digital technology, and examines the impact of culture, age and gender on technology use.

Bill Roedy, Vice Chairman of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), said: “Digital technology is impacting every aspect of content creation across Nickelodeon and MTV channels.  Our groundbreaking report highlights our commitment to engaging with kids and young people globally. It will help us build stronger and more innovative alliances with business partners across our 137 TV channels and 260 web and mobile services.  We’re delighted to have joined forces with Microsoft on this major project.”

 

“Digital communications – from IM, SMS, social networking to email – have all revolutionised how young people communicate with their peers.  We wanted to understand more deeply how young people interact with these technologies and consequently what this means for our advertising partners focused on reaching this highly engaged and influential audience.  Working with MTV Networks globally on this study enabled us to do so,” said Chris Dobson, Vice President, Global Advertising Sales, Microsoft Advertising.

 

Circuits of Cool/Digital Playground used both qualitative and quantitative methodology to talk to 18,000 “tech embracing” kids (8-14) and young people (14-24) in 16 countries: UK, Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.  MTV Networks and Microsoft Advertising studied 21 technologies that impact on the lives of young people: internet, email, PC, TV, mobile, IM, cable and sat TV, DVD, MP3, stereo/hi-fi, digital cameras, social networks, on and offline video games, CDs, HD TV, VHS, webcams, MP4 players, DVR/PVRs, and hand-held games consoles.

 

The report found:

 

 

The study found that whilst many young people have access to similar digital technologies, they use them in very different ways.  “The way each technology is adopted and adapted throughout the world depends as much on local cultural and social factors as on the technology itself,” said Andrew Davidson, Vice President of VBS International Insight, MTV Networks International.  “Anyone wanting to understand kids and youth has to understand how and why they differ.”

 

For example, Japan’s reputation as a land in love with technology is different from the reality.  Japanese young people live in small homes with limited privacy, generally don’t have their own PC until they go to college and socialise away from home a lot.  As a result their key digital device is the mobile phone because it offers privacy and portability.  

 

Unlike young people in other countries, Japanese kids and young people use IM and email the least out of the 16 countries surveyed, as a result they have few online friends.  Japanese kids aged 8-14 have only one online friend they haven’t met, compared to a global average of 5, whilst Japanese teenagers have only seven online friends they haven’t met - compared to a global average of 20.

 

China has lower mobile usage amongst young people, a less evolved print media market and a family life of no siblings with parents and multiple grandparents.  As a result the internet provides a rare opportunity for only - and lonely - children to reach out and communicate using social networks, blogs and instant messaging.  In stark contrast to their Japanese peers, 93% of Chinese respondents 8-14 have more than one friend online they have never met face to face. “Chinese kids are living in an utterly changed world compared to their parents, and they would rather find advice and support through their peers online than through their families,” said Davidson.  Davidson said that amongst 8-14s globally, only in China was TV not the No. 1 choice.  “This is encouraging 8-14 in China to select online over TV - a trend not witnessed in any other market,” he said.

 

Climate impacts on digital technology too.  In countries with a strong outdoor culture, such as Italy, Brazil and Australia, young people use mobiles for arranging to meet, flirt and take pictures of their friends. 

 

Northern Europeans take a practical approach to technology, but are perhaps the most immersed in it of all.  Out of all nationalities surveyed, young Danes are most likely to say they can’t live without mobiles (80%) or TVs (75%), and young Dutch most likely to say they can’t live without e-mail (85%).

 

Despite the plethora of new communicating tools, a majority in almost every nation expressed a preference for meeting in person, although Japanese, Chinese, Poles and Germans scored higher than others when it came to wanting to communicate online.  Only Chinese youth actually expressed a majority preference for texting over face-to-face meetings.

 

                                                   

Circuits of Cool/Digital Playground found that technology’s greatest impact has been on the depth and range of friends that 14-24s have.  From having an average 11 friends between the ages of 8-14, young people speedily acquire circles of dozens of friends in their teenage years.  The average 14-24 has an average of 53 online and face-to-face friends - and communicate with them often.  “There is a critical difference in mobile phone usage between kids and teenagers. For 8-14s, the mobile phone is a toy that you can talk to parents and close friends on.  From 14 onwards the mobile phone quickly becomes a means of communication and self-expression,” said Davidson.

 

Many of the 14-24s surveyed said that the different forms of communication enabled them to talk about more intimate subjects than they would have otherwise done.  Over half said that they could talk about more things on IM than face-to-face, 53% said that they could get to know people better, whilst around 4 out of every ten said that they found it easier to make new friends and felt less lonely as a result of using the Internet.  “Friends play an expanded role in the lives of young people.  When they come home from school, college or work, socialising does not stop as it used to, it just goes online. Kids and young people are now connected constantly,” said MTV Network’s Davidson.

 

On average, 14-24s said they had 20 online friends, with Brazilians claiming the most – 46.  Communicating with their friends is a priority.  Nearly 70% said the first thing they did after turning on their computer was to check IM.  Out of all young people surveyed, 14-17 girls spend the least time online - 21 hours per week – whilst 22-24 males spent the most time online - 31 hours a week online.  100% of those surveyed said they communicate every time they go online.

 

“The power of online communication tools, like instant messenger and social networking sites, enables young people to communicate both privately and with multiple friends.  Features in IM, like winks and emoticons, add to the fun of chatting and allow them to express themselves more deeply,” said Caroline Vogt, Head of International Research, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions.

 

 

Safety and parental oversight ranks high on the uses technology serves with the younger demographics.  68% of 8-14 respondents said they felt safer having their mobile phones with them outside the home - rising to 81% in the UK - and 71% said their parents use the phone to find out where they are.  “In Mexico especially, parents purchase mobiles for their children as an essential safety item,” said Davidson.

 

When parents aren’t around, 8-14s are more likely to communicate with friends, participate in chat forums and use the internet for entertainment.  German kids aged 8-14 use the internet the least of all countries studied and were also the least likely to view it positively – only 25% of German kids said they loved the internet – compared to 73% of Dutch kids.  The behaviour is likely to be linked the high degree of parental supervision of German kids on the internet.

 

With social networking becoming a frequent online activity for over half of youth, 35% are claiming they now use these sites because all their friends are on them.  This helps to explain the phenomenal rise of social networking – their popularity is based on collective usage.  In the UK, one of the strongest reasons for using social networks is to keep youths from feeling left out.  “Parents should take comfort from these findings.  Kids and youths prefer to connect with their friendship groups and, at most, extend out to people with similar interests.  The perception amongst young people is that it’s their parents who are more likely to use digital networks for online dating or meeting strangers!” said Vogt.

 

Advertisers and content companies wishing to evolve and engage with kids and youth audiences need to understand the changes taking place in how kids and young people lead their lives.  “Traditional youth marketing considered opinion formers and influencers to be a small elite, but these days the elite has become much larger,” said Davidson.

 

A clear majority of young people asked said the majority of website links (88%) they viewed and the viral video content they downloaded (55%) came from friends’ recommendations.  Audiences also wanted more control of what they watched and when they wanted it.  Young people expect content to be on all platforms; mobile, computer and TV.  They want it to be searchable and increasingly expect it to be supplied on demand through services such as Joost. 

 

MTVN is producing global shows such as Meet or Delete in conjunction with HP, where content is available on mobile, TV and on computer, and programming was shot in different countries across North America, Europe and Asia.  Another example of how this report is influencing programming is in MTVN’s partnership with Sony Ericsson to highlight new talent for the Europe Music Awards through online and mobile voting.

 

“In an age when young people influence each other as much as marketers do, friends are becoming as important as brands.  Kids have much more power to influence each other.  You need to be interesting enough for kids and young people to bother to talk about you.  You need to be remarkable.  If not, you won’t be respected – that’s what some brands get wrong,” said Davidson.

 

Vogt agreed.  “Brands need to provide teens with content that they want to share.  Their reward will be the loyalty of brand-savvy groups.  Microsoft’s online campaign for Sony is a great example of using content to build loyalty across a youth audience.  By announcing new film releases using a Messenger tab Sony was able to provide content for teens that they then shared with peers across their networks, generating 8.4 million visits to the site,” said Vogt.

 

 

The Circuits of Cool and Digital Playground survey found that the “technology” itself is irrelevant to kids and young people.  While kids use mobiles and the internet constantly, the survey found that only 20% of 14-24s actually loved technology, and they’re in developing nations such as Brazil, India and China.  The people least interested in technology were the Danes and the Dutch – despite saying they couldn’t live without it.

 

“Young people don’t see “tech” as a separate entity – it’s an organic part of their lives,” said Davidson.  “Talking to them about the role of technology in their lifestyle would be like talking to kids in the 1980s about the role the park swing or the telephone played in their social lives – it’s invisible. They are completely focussed on the functionality and use of devices.  They don’t enjoy texting, or emailing for its own sake – what they enjoy is communicating with their friends all the time.”

Apart from a few key new media terms, most young people avoided industry jargon.  Only 8% of those questioned used the term “multi-platform,” and only 16% admitted to using the phrase “social networking.”  The terms they use most frequently are those relating to accessing content for free, like “download” and “burn.”  They also use brand names rather than category terms, with MSN, Google, and MySpace amongst the most popular.  The term “web 2.0” is used by very few people (8%) outside China.

 

Young people also multi-task to a greater extent than adults.  They still generally only do one thing at a time, but are able to have more stimuli coming at them and select the one that grabs them at that moment.  Vogt commented: “Kids are very good at filtering the mass of information coming at them – dipping in and out of each.”

 

Circuits of Cool/Digital Playground found that what kids and teens do has not significantly changed in 15 years.  For kids, they may be immersed in tech from the day they were born, but the things they enjoy doing most are watching TV (85%), listening to music (70%), hanging out with friends (68%), playing video games (67%) and spending time online (51%).  As they grow into teens so the ranking of their favourite pastimes change.  At the top of the list of 14-24s favourite pastimes is listening to music (70%), followed by watching TV or hanging out with friends, both of which polled got 65%.  Next came watching DVDs (60%), relaxing (60%), going to cinema (59%), spending time online (56%), spending time with girl or boyfriend (55%), eating (53%) and hanging out at home (49%).

 

“The survey revealed a strong dynamic between TV and the Internet, especially for 14-24s.  Young people watch TV for stress relief - 60% of the sample said they watched most of their TV lying down. The internet, on the other hand, is cognitive and active, especially if kids are using it for homework or social situations,” said Davidson.

 

Kids still love good advertising.  While the ‘best ad they’ve seen recently’ is still overwhelmingly on TV, there is the opportunity for marketers to extend their digital advertising across the other technologies kids are engaged with, including IM and social networking sites, especially since 47% of youth IM each other about ‘what is on TV right now.’  “Far from being a background medium, TV is the only medium they use whilst not multitasking at all.  Linear TV is the medium for introducing people to new things they weren’t searching for in the first place,” said Davidson.

 

And for IM, the top topics for 14-24s were: gossiping (62%), making arrangements (57%), talking about the opposite sex (57%) and flirting (55%), work or school (54%) and TV and music (52%).    “Given the amount of time young people are spending on instant messenger every day presents a very powerful opportunity for brands to connect with the youth audience. When on IM, teenagers are at their most engaged and interactive,” said Vogt.

 

 

Digital Playground studied the lives of 8-14s and what it’s like to grow up in a digital world across 12 countries (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, China and India).  The qualitative and quantitative phases surveyed 7,000 kids and parents who qualified as regular users of media. 

 

MTV and Microsoft’s Circuits of Cool used both qualitative and quantitative methodology to examines how technology has changed youth culture and talks to 18,000 “tech embracing” young people (14- in 16 countries: UK, Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.  Tech embracing is defined as having easy access to the internet, mobile phones, and at least 2 other electronic devices.

 

MTV Networks International includes the premier multimedia entertainment brands MTV: Music Television, VH1, Nickelodeon, TMF (The Music Factory), VIVA, Flux, Paramount Comedy, Game One and IFILM. MTV Networks' brands are seen in 505.3 million households in 160 countries and 28 languages via more than 135 locally programmed and operated TV channels and more than 260 digital media properties.  The company's diverse holdings also include interests in television syndication, digital media, publishing, home video, radio, recorded music, licensing & merchandising and two feature film divisions, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies.  MTV Networks is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).

 

Microsoft Advertising is a robust set of global advertising products and services designed to effectively connect advertisers with their target audiences across multiple digital touch points. Advertisers can actively engage with their consumers through a suite of high-impact advertising products and platforms, reaching a global audience of more than 465 million unique users per month across the MSN network, as well as millions more through Windows Live, Xbox®, the Microsoft Office system and Live Search. Advertisers can feel confident they will achieve measurable results through groundbreaking research, advertising innovation, strategic planning and excellence in execution. More information about Microsoft Advertising is available at http://advertising.microsoft.com/uk/.

 

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.