GenDigital

It's Halloween Time On Campus

In many ways Halloween is one of those under the radar holidays that lacks the general media coverage of something like back to school, holiday or even graduation. From the perspective of teens and college students, Halloween is certainly one of their biggies as evidenced from the findings of the latest Youth Trends Insights Immersion. For many college students in particular, Halloween is a multi-day holiday inclusive of parties, dances, costumes, decorations and contests. That said, like many other annual events on the campus calendar, Halloween also represents a great excuse to have a prolonged good time.

According to the latest Immersion, about eight in ten respondents (78%) said they planned to participate in some sort of Halloween-related activity, spending an average of $62 on costumes, decorations and candy. Suffice to day, Halloween isn't just a holiday for the little ones. Here's a real quick look at some of the other findings, including some of the top costumes being donned by students this year

- 76% plan to attend at least one Halloween party

- 34% plan to attend multiple Halloween parties

- 46% plan to visit a bar or club hosting a Halloween theme party/costume contest

- 37% say Halloween is their favorite holiday of the year

- 68% plan to be in costume

The top costume mentions included: Michael Jackson, a character from Twilight, a nurse/dr., a character from True Blood, a Roman soldier, a zombie, a character from Jon & Kate Plus 8 (love to see that one)

Guess you can't go wrong this year if you have anything vampire-related...

Sports Media Consumption Trends: It's All About College Football

The results of the latest Insights Immersion leads us to believe that between emerging digital and mobile consumption channels coupled with good ole fashioned school spirit, college football seems to be more popular than ever. 

On a year over year basis, all major activity measurements experienced an increase including live attendance, on-air viewing, online streaming, mobile updates and alerts and mobile app downloads. What's more, we're seeing a sizable increase in interest for consumption via online and mobile. Here's a look at the latest findings based on activity since the start of the new school year:

- Attended a college football game: 37%, up from 32%

- Watched a college football game on TV: 41%, up from 38%

- Streamed a college game online: 17%, up from 11%

- Read a college football-related blog or microblog: 18%, up from 8%

- Received a score update/alert via mobile: 19%, up from 7%

- Downloaded a sports-related mobile app: 14%, up from 3%

- At least somewhat interested in accessing mobile updates and video: 27%, up from 19%

 

- At least somewhat interested in streaming a game online: 35%, up from 22%

Mobile Social Networking Explodes

Based on the results of the latest Insights Immersion, mobile social networking experienced a huge jump in use and frequency of use over the past year. Nearly six in ten college students (58%) who own a smartphone device like a BlackBerry or iPhone accessed a mobile social network at least once during the past month compared to slightly less than a third last year. While the year over year growth is quite impressive, what's even more enticing is the current frequency of access. Among the 58% who used their device to access a mobile social network during the past month, more than half (56%) said they did so three times a week or more often.

The dominant mobile social networking platform used by students is Facebook Mobile. Among the 58% of student mobile social network users, nearly all of them (96%) say they use Facebook Mobile most often. Not surprisingly, the most commonly performed mobile social networking activity was status updates followed by picture uploads/sharing, and page search.

The mobile social networking category will soon get another boost in anticipation of the version 3.0 release of the Facebook mobile app for iPhone owners. The update features a slate of new and improved features and functionality which should greatly appeal to existing users and bring in new users. Version 3.0 features a new home screen and the ability to customize it. It also offers a more comprehensive news feed enabling users to see the status updates from all of their friends. Even more promising is the ability to RSVP to Facebook created events and the ability to call friends straight from the main profile page.

To learn more about the latest Insights immersion, visit the Youth Trends Research Store