GenDigital

Youth Trends Instant Insights: It's All About TV...Content

In many marketing circles, TV gets the short end of the stick, especially when you are talking about young people, but we believe TV, and more specifically, TV content will be the thing this year. Like always, we have an ample amount of recent data to back up our beliefs.

First, let’s start off with the hardware devices. At last check, slightly more than 45% of all college students own a flat panel HDTV. The viewing experience via a flat panel HDTV is second to none for students, let alone everyone else. In fact, we would challenge any of you to find a college guy that doesn’t like watching his favorite NFL team in HD on a 50 inch screen. The reality is simple: over the past few years, the cost of a large flat panel HDTV has come down dramatically, so much so that many students have been able to foot the bill themselves instead of having to turn to Mom and Dad, which is always a plus. What’s more, if we’re talking devices, we must highlight the rapidly growing interest among students for connected and smart-TV devices. Purchase interest for Internet-ready TVs tripled in 2011. The last part of the device story centers on the set-top boxes like those made by Roku and Apple. Ownership of alternative set-top boxes is still relatively small (less than 5%), but again, purchase interest over the coming year is near 20%, which is a pretty robust percentage for any device within the consumer electronics category. At the end of the day, the picture is pretty bright on the hardware side of all things TV-related.

Now, let’s shift to the content side of the equation. Thank goodness for all those alternative viewing sources, because never before has there been so much to consume that’s deemed appealing by the college audience. It used to be just a handful of individual TV shows that would repeatedly show up as the favorite’s season after season. We now live in a much different time. Between broadcast, cable and premium cable, there are several “genre pockets” that are resonating big time with the audience. Who would have thought a few years back that History Channel would house two of the top 15 TV shows among college males in “Pawn Stars” and “American Pickers.” Better yet, none of us would have thought a couple of years ago that cable net AMC would be among the top seven cable networks, but it is, thanks to breakout collegiate cult favorites led by “The Walking Dead,” “Hell on Wheels” and “Breaking Bad.” Let’s face it, TV content has dramatically improved over the past few years and the audience by and large, is embracing it to the max.

And lastly, since we can’t get through any piece without mentioning social media at least once, let’s touch on the social component of TV viewing. Time and again, we’ve confirmed our belief that social media is a viable complement and fan supplement to the overall viewing experience. If Nielsen had a box in every campus dorm room or off-campus apartment, the marketing community would see that this translates into higher ratings for individual shows. Students who interact with an individual show via social media are by no coincidence among the most loyal and vocal fans—these are your unpaid content evangelists, so why wouldn’t you want to cuddle up with them?

Still think TV will be passé this year? Let us not forget that 2012 is an Olympics year and our past research illustrated the Summer Olympic Games are about 35% more popular than the Winter Olympic Games. This year’s Summer Olympics will be quite a strong lead in for the start of the college and NFL football seasons. In between all of this, attention will turn to Apple to see what’s up their sleeve in the interactive TV space. Speculation has been intense since the release of the Steve Jobs biography last fall. For the iPhone, iPod, iPad-device loving college crowd, we have to pay close attention for any significant product release from the world’s most valuable consumer company.

2012 Youth Macro Trends, Predictions & Insights

With 2012 on the horizon, we're pleased to present our annual Youth Macro Trends, Predictions & Insights report for the coming year as well as revisit a handful of trends and predictions from last year's report to see how they have played out over the course of this year. Rather than providing an exhaustive list of rather meaningless trends, our main objective is to provide a select number of actionable views that have multiple implications across various industries and product categories. If we did our job correctly, there should be something in here for everyone, and we hope that something results in a conversation starter, a strategy meeting, or if nothing else, a definitive edge on the why behind the what for all things youth-culture related.

2012 Youth Macro Trends, Predictions & Insights

The Gamification of Youth Marketing & Media

Check In & Buy

The Future of m-Commerce

Tablets Everywhere

Moving Towards The Cloud

Twitter As An Exclusive Social Alternative

Digital Entrepreneurialism

Mining Social Influence

Visual Gratification

2011 Recap: Convergence Everywhere

2011 Recap: Fashion Gets Personal & Athletic

2011 Recap: Purpose-Driven Cause Marketing

2011 Recap: Social Shopping: Click, Shop, Talk & Buy

Back To School 2011 Highlights

If we had to use just one word to describe the climate surrounding this year's back to school shopping season, we would use the word restraint. This is not to say that all of the air is out of the balloon, but it wouldn't hurt if it was propped up a bit. It's restraint, mainly in the form of moderation that's the big story for back to school this year. This year, students and their parents plan to spend an average of $608 on back to school-related purchases, representative of a 10% decrease compared to last year. Incoming freshmen lead the way in terms of planned spending, which can be expected to a certain extent, while an increasing number of returning students intend to make do with several items they already own.

 

For the most part, the decrease in planned spending is a direct result of the high level of uncertainty related to the broader economy.  In fact, more than seven in ten respondents who participated in this year's back to school shopping insights immersion said the economy will impact their shopping and spending plans. Consequently, an increasing number of students will be out in the marketplace looking to buy more for less. The onus will fall back to the key youth-facing retailers to be extremely creative with their promotions in order to seize the attention of students whether they're shopping in a mall or in front of a computer.

 

Several leading retailers have moved up the start of their back to school sales and promotional programs in lieu of all this shopper uncertainty. We even saw a few of these programs up and running in early June. From the perspective of the retailers, the concept of front-running is a prudent move that offers up at least the opportunity to secure dollars earmarked for back to school early, with the idea that those funds just may not be readily available come late August or through the month of September.

 

With that said, this year we've seen an increase in the number of students who said they already started purchasing items specifically for their return to campus later this summer. At the same time, more students are telling us they're out in the marketplace looking for a good deal, especially those that are tailored specifically for the college set. Promotions and rewards offers tied to the presentation of a valid student ID is something an increasing number of students have become attuned to. Fewer students are willing to experiment and branch out with purchasing new brands this season. On the other hand, more students say they plan to stick with their original back to school shopping list and refrain from making any additional impulse type purchases.

Urbanspoon Moves Into Top Ten Downloaded Apps

For the thirty seven percent of teens and college students who own an iPhone or iPod Touch, here's an interesting new tidbit from our App tracking panel, the restaurant review and recommendation service Urbanspoon is now among the top most downloaded free apps. Based on last month's tracking data, more than one in four members (42%) have downloaded the app to date, proving that young people are beginning to use their connected Apple devices to do more than just download and play games. The Urbanspoon app has some pretty cool functionality. To look for recommendations, users shake their devices and in turn the app spits out some nearby locations. It's intuitive and some simple fun at the same time and enough to make Urbanspoon our app of the month.

Will The iPad Kill? Not So Much Initially, At Least Among Students

Last month, Apple unveiled its latest device to the world, the iPad. Apple is touting the "educational benefits" of the $499 device, but the real question is, will students respond with the same verve as they have with other Apple products in the past? Already a small Pennsylvania college, Seton Hill, announced that it will provide iPads to all of their full-time students next fall. With an enrollment of just over 2,000 students it's a start for the Apple machine, albeit it's not and Ohio State or Univ of Minnesota with 40,000 and 50,000 undergrads.

Clearly Apple has the education market in mind with the iPad as partnerships have also been trickling out with leading textbook publishers including Macmillan and McGraw Hill, among others. The basic concept is that students, as tech savvy as they are, will be more comfortable and adept in consuming their academic material via a multi-touch interactive e-reader device like the iPad as opposed to a more cumbersome (and heavy) 500 page textbook.

Besides the interactive e-reader capabilities, the iPad is really nothing more than oversized version of the already wildly popular iTouch. So, in other words, beyond the supposed convenience of an e-reader device, and a fairly pricey one at that, do students really desire having one more device that already offers many of the same features and functionality they're well accustomed to? The initial vote from our college student panelists is a resounding nay.

As much buzz as the broader e-reader market is receiving, when it comes to the actual end user level of students, awareness, let alone interest is quite weak. And, as can be expected, when you throw in a price tag of $499 (plus data plan costs) interest and intent among students drops even further.

Based on this initial feedback, the strategy to drive immediate adoption would be an institutional type sales approach where Apple would sell iPads in bulk to specific colleges and universities. We suspect the schools would then have to pass along the costs through various student access and tech fees. That said, other than the super tech schools like MIT and Stanford, it's pretty unlikely to see major state-funded institutions sign on quickly (fall 2010) as many are still very much struggling with budget and capital expenditure problems of their own. Chances are, the last thing they want to do is add on one more fee for their students.

Product Watch: Flip Video

Talk about a perfect storm of opportunities...User generated content is hot, video sharing is super hot and mobile social networking has, in our humble opinion, infinite growth possibilities. Sounds like a product marketer's dream for a type of device that can harness the phenomena. Well, here is something to check out that has some potential and some big time financial backers. The new device called Flip Video, is a hand held mobile video camcorder, about the size of a pack of cigarettes, (smoking is down over the past year among the youth market by the way, but that's not what we're talking about here) is positioning itself as the first device with full video editing capabilities that can easily upload content to the popular video sharing sites like YouTube. The value behind the device besides its size, is the fact that consumers can upload their work directly to the sites skipping the step of taking the content from device to computer and then upload to the sites. Will skipping a step make a big difference? We'll see, but I have to say, this device seems very promising at first glance and perhaps more importantly, cost won't be an obstacle. The device will be sold at a wide variety of retailers ranging from Target to Best Buy and will cost between $119 and $149.

Technology Dominates Toy Fair Convention

As this year's American International Toy Fair gets underway today, visitors to the the annual convention will quickly notice a recurring theme: marketing high technology infused items at young, sometimes very young (like 2 and under) children. Toy manufacturers are bringing things like laptops and tablets as well as digital cameras, staples for the adult market and creating versions just for young children. According to an article in Wired, consumer electronics targeted at kids is the fastest growing segment within the $20+ billion toy industry. Toy makers cite the trend growing based on the lower costs of electronic components, and of course, the incredible savvy of the youngest generation as it relates to technology and media comprehension.

Microsoft's Zune Has Ultra Strategic Partner in Universal

Only a day after receiving strong reviews from some noted technology critics, Microsoft has made a bold announcement. The wanna be iPod killer just might have set a precedent by setting forth a revenue share agreement with Universal Music, the world's largest music company and home to acts including omnipresent U2 and rap impresario Jay-Z. Under the terms of the revenue share, Universal will receive more than $1 from every Zune player sold. Not exactly gigantic, but as Jeff Spicoli would say to Mr. Hand, "righteous bucks." Of course there is another story behind the story with this whole thing. Rumor has it that Microsoft was having some trouble negotiating with the music companies and clearly they had the leverage given the fact the Zune player comes to market next week, so timing was clearly of the essence for the folks from Redmond. The newspaper reporters who wrote about the Universal/Microsoft announcement all ponder if the precedent will lead to Apple making similar announcements. I say no way, since Apple has the all the power. You control the market for portable media players (upwards of 90% for teens and college students), you lead the negotiations. At the end of the day, Microsoft is bringing an alternative product into a one product category. Is that what they did when they introduced the Xbox?

Microsoft's Zune Gets Rave Reviews

Does Microsoft finally have an answer for Apple's category leading killer iPod and corresponding iTunes downloading service? According to recent a recent report, the soon to be unveiled Zune is in fact, the real deal and represents the first real legitimate challenge to Apple. The $249 portable digital media player's value positioning revolves around social interaction. The Microsoft product managers quoted in the report attempt to provide "real world" examples of the Wi-Fi capabilities of the player. They call the Wi-Fi capability the "social sharing of music." Certainly the Wi-Fi capability is something not currently offered by Apple, but the question remains, is this enough to encourage young people to purchase Zune instead. I don't know, but we're going to find out soon when we begin fielding our Holiday Gift Wish List report in less than two weeks.

Newest iPod Sure To Get Some Repeat Customers

"Oh, it's so cute," is probably a quote you'll hear from some 18 year old female if you're around an Apple store tomorrow when the newly re-designed iPod Shuffle goes on sale. The latest iteration of the Shuffle is pretty impressive. How the about the size? The aluminum player is half the size of the original (which was already pretty tiny), which makes it that much more perfect for the teen and young adult headed for the gym or a work out. How about the price? Even with the improvements in size, Apple still cut the retail price by twenty bucks to $79. That's less than a typical college students spends over a long weekend. We believe the new Shuffle will appeal mostly to existing iPod customers (which is now essentially half of the college audience and a third of the teen audience) that are pleasantly happy with their current device, but looking for something easy and "cheap" for work outs. Should be another good financial quarter for Apple.