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Top Ten TV Shows - Q4 2011

TheofficeThe results are in for the most popular TV shows among teens and college students for the 4th quarter of 2011. Along with some of the usual suspects, there are several surprises. Among the guys, most notably is the performance of "The Walking Dead" which made the list for the first time. Not to be left out is the increasingly popular Daniel Tosh and his digital generation friendly Tosh.0 Of course, if it's the 4th quarter and you're talking about guys, football will have to be a part of that conversation at some point. The only other mild surprise to us was the performance of "Modern Family" which is now firmly entrenched as one of the top comedies alongside "The Office." And speaking of "Modern Family," it's now the top show overall among the young ladies for the first time, eclipsing staples like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Gossip Girl." Who says comedy doesn't work with college females?  Here's a look at the top ten by gender:

Q4 2011 Top Ten TV Shows

(Males)

1. The Office

2. SportsCenter

3. Family Guy

4. Modern Family

5. How I Met Your Mother

6. South Park

7. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

8. Dexter

9. NFL football games

10. The Walking Dead/Tosh.0

(Females)

1. Modern Family

2. Gossip Girl

3. Glee

4. Grey's Anatomy

5. Desperate Housewives

6. How I Met Your Mother

7. New Girl

8. Pretty Little Liars

9. Friends

10. Revenge

February 01, 2012 in Campus Life, Television | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tags: Most Popular TV Shows, Top Ten TV Shows

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

BreakingbadIn 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.

January 10, 2012 in Culture, Digital Electronics, Television | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tags: Instant Insights, TV shows, TV trends

How About Those Superfans!

Jerseyshoreshot Our latest research shows that approximately one in six teens and college students can be classified as "superfans" of at least one TV show. The notion of a superfan is defined as those individuals who not only regularly watch a TV series live, but also re-watch episodes online, on-demand, on their DVRs as well as connect with shows (and their characters) via social media. The implications for advertisers are significant as opportunities to connect and ultimately create a dialogue with this special segment of fans go well beyond on-air messaging. For content producers, TV networks and their distributors, superfans can represent the foundation of an integrated social media strategy. Not surprisingly, these superfans are also among the heaviest consumers of entertainment content across a variety of categories. From the perspective of superfans, it's a validation in some respects as they feel a personal connection to a show or a character in the show coupled with a certain level of enthusiasm to talk with others.

Top 5 Superfan TV Shows:

  1. True Blood (HBO)
  2. Jersey Shore (MTV)
  3. Glee (FOX)
  4. The Office (NBC)
  5. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)

February 01, 2011 in Campus Life, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: multi-platform viewing, superfans, TV

World Cup 2010

Worldcupshot Ok, let's be honest here, up until a few weeks ago, how many of you were familiar with a vuvuzela? Undoubtedly, even we were surprised to see how World Cup fever has gripped this country's youth audience especially in between proms, graduation parties and the start of summer break. The bulk of the audience's TV sports consumption is dominated by football, basketball and baseball, so to see an event like the World Cup rate so highly in this month's Insights Immersion is significant. At least part of the excitement can be linked directly to two factors: coverage and technology and clearly there are synergies between the two factors.

June is kind of a funny month for sports coverage as the NBA wraps up its season, while baseball approaches the mid-season mark. That said, it's fair to say there is a bit of a void so the timing of this year's World Cup is super strategic. The coverage on-air, online and even via mobile devices is reminiscent of an Olympic Games: thoroughly comprehensive and seemingly never ending. If you're a sports fan, it's almost as if you have to tune-in at some point. And that's exactly what the audience has been doing as noted by this month's findings.

World Cup Viewer and Fan Statistics:

- watched at least one game: 27% (37% of males/16% of females)

- watched more than one game: 20% (28% of males/12% of females)

- watched the U.S. team play: 26% (35% of males/16% of females)

- streamed a game online: 16% (24% of males/8% of females)

- streamed game highlights or interviews online: 23% (34% of males/11% of females)

- watched a game on a mobile device: 3% (6% of males/1% of females)

- watched game highlights or interviews on a mobile device: 5% (10% of males/1% of females)

- visited websites like ESPN Soccernet or Yahoo! Sports for World Cup info: 29% (41% of males/17% of females)

- Used Facebook or Twitter to follow World Cup-related activities: 16% (22% of males/10% of females)

June 28, 2010 in Research, Sports, Television, Web/Tech, Wireless | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: World Cup 2010

It's Upfront Time For The Broadcast Nets

An improving economic outlook, larger media budgets, and a preview of more than 80 new TV shows. Welcome to the Broadcast Upfront for 2010. As the major broadcast networks unveil their fall schedules, media analysts anticipate healthy pricing gains for  the upcoming season.

As the 2010-11 TV season beckons, the Big Four--ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS have ordered a total of 84 pilots, more than half of which are comedies. Could this signal the end of the voracious appetite for unscripted reality fare? Only time will tell, but clearly momentum is back on the side of scripted programming, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Upfront1 ABC - The number one broadcast network among teens and college students looks to make a splash starting with the police drama "Detroit 1-8-7." Michael Imperioli of Sopranos fame leads a cast of homicide detectives in rough and tumble Detroit. It definitely has a solid chance of resonating with a large segment of the viewing audience who are current fans of "CSI" and "Law & Order." Another new show of note is "My Generation," which clearly has the youth audience in mind as a key viewing target. The style is somewhat "Officesque" in nature as a documentary crew follows a group of graduating high school students as they receive their diplomas circa 2000. Ten years later, the documentary crew is back checking in to see what's up with the now group of twentysomethings and how life has been for them throughout a tumultuous decade of events, tragedies and milestones.

Upfront2 NBC - Sex and romance take the cake with the premiere of "Love Bites" which is slotted in the super strategic Thursday 10pm timeslot so you have to think the folks at NBC have high hopes for it. It wasn't too long ago that many of our female panelists posted about how disappointed they were with the cancellation of "Lipstick Jungle" so it looks as if "Love Bites" will help fill their void. And not to be undone, "Undercovers" features a married couple who join the CIA in order to keep the spark in their marriage going. Perhaps it is a bit reminiscent of Brad and Angelina in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

Upfront3 FOX - Get ready for "Running Wilde," a new romantic comedy starring Will Arnett from "Arrested Development" and former "Felicity" star Keri Russell. Arnett stars as an immature but extremely wealthy son of an oil tycoon who will do just about anything to win the affection from his childhood sweetheart played by Russell. Of course, we have to mention, "Terra Nova" which is being exec produced by none other than Stephen Spielberg. Fast forward to the year 2149 and things aren't going so well here on Earth.  There is overdevelopment, too many people and lots of pollution. Now, here is where things really get interesting. A team of scientists develop a mechanism that allows a few chosen people to go back in time, all the way back to prehistoric Earth as a dramatic and last ditch effort to save the world by correcting the mistakes of the past.

Upfront4 CBS - Things get going immediately with "$#*! My Dad Says" which marks a return to TV for William Shatner. We assume the four letter words starts with an "s" and end with a "t." Pretty risque move for the most conservative of the Big Four. The half hour comedy stars Shatner as a dad with a somewhat checkered past in the marriage department going through three divorces. He hopes to correct mistakes of the past (seems like the theme of choice for the new season) by taking in his youngest son with the goal of being the father he never was. Expect one-liners galore with this new comedy. And how about one more blast from the past, with the vibrant return of "Hawaii Five-O." It's the same beautiful setting in the land of Aloha with an even more beautiful cast of characters fighting the bad guys.

We'll have much more data to share and heck of a lot more visibility when we engage panelists next month in support of the Fall 2010 TV Show Preview & Outlook report. The report will be available in early August. From the Emmy Award-winning

May 20, 2010 in Television | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: Fall 2010 TV Season, Upfront

Spring TV Season Expectations

Gleespring The spring TV season is upon us and is shaping up to be one of interest and intrigue for the market.  From early March through the end of April a total of 15 new TV shows premiered along with the return of new episodes from more than 20 returning series ranging from staples like "South Park" to cult favorites like "Friday Night Lights." During this month's Insights Immersion, panelists rated their planned viewing for all new and returning series after viewing trailers and reading associated plot lines.

A new element we included this go around was a buzz factor, whereby panelists used a scale of 1 to 10 rated each new and returning series. The buzz included conversations panelists may have had regarding the show with their friends, commercials or other advertisements they recalled or something they read about the show prior to this month's Immersion.  And without further a due, the most anticipated TV show for the spring season is the harmonically appealing "Glee," followed by longtime action reality hit, "Dancing With the Stars." 

Here is the full run down of the top ten most anticipated TV shows for the spring season, inclusive of the net planned viewing rating as well as the buzz factor rating.

Spring TV Season Top Ten:

1. Glee (FOX) - 6.7 net/7.4 buzz

2. Dancing With The Stars (ABC) - 6.3 net/6.4 buzz

3. South Park (Comedy Central) - 6.0 net/5.5 buzz

4. Happy Town (ABC) - 5.4 net/6.5 buzz

5. 10 Things I Hate About You (ABC Family) - 4.8 net/5.1 buzz

6. Nurse Jackie (Showtime) - 4.4 net/5.0 buzz

7. The Hills (MTV) - 3.9 net/3.4 buzz

8. Top Chef Masters (Bravo) - 3.7 net/3.9 buzz

9. Justified (FX) - 3.4 net/4.1 buzz

10. V (ABC) - 3.2 net/4.1 buzz

May 05, 2010 in Campus Life, Television | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tags: new TV shows, top TV shows, TV

Online Video Insights: Paying For Video Content

Onlinevideoshot We recently wrapped up our latest Online Video Insights supplement exploring audience preference and interest as it relates to professional video content a la TV shows and movies. Online Video Insights is a supplementary component of the comprehensive Youth Trends Emerging Media & Entertainment portfolio. Findings for the latest wave (Q1 2010) were based on interviews completed the week of March 15th. The interviews were conducted with just over a thousand members of the Youth Trends Digital Media panel. All of the participating panelists had to stream at least one free or paid TV show or movie during the past month. That was the main qualifier for participation.

Here are some of the key findings:

By a pretty healthy margin, participants were most likely to stream an episode of one of their favorite TV shows they missed on-air. While on-demand viewing and other time-shifted options (DVR viewing) were indicated, it's online streaming that comes out as the most common behavior.

The participants tend to demonstrate a greater willingness to pay for online video content, both TV shows and movies via a monthly subscription fee as opposed to a pay-per-view option. More than one in four participants (27%) said they would at least consider paying $0.99 to stream an episode of one of their favorite TV shows, while about 30% said they would at least consider paying $9.99 a month for unlimited access to their favorite TV shows online.

Exactly a third of participants would at least consider paying $2.99 to stream a full-length movie, while 26% said they would at least consider paying $4.99. Clearly, price is a determining factor for many of the participants. Interestingly enough, more than a third of participants (36%) said they would be more likely to pay for online video content if the videos themselves, contained no advertisements or commercials.

The initial read left price and video type out as variables--about one in ten participants said they would definitely pay for video content online if it was no longer accessible for free. Another 16% said they would consider paying for it. Keep in mind, these are young people who have already demonstrated a propensity to stream content online, so if anything these guys represent more of a targeted potential customer base than that of the overall teen and young adult population. Clearly, interest levels adjust when you start throwing out pricing and different types of accessibility, but at this basic level, you're left with a not so small percentage who will at least consider paying for something that they're not typically accustomed to. YT client subscribers will be able to download the full report tomorrow.

April 12, 2010 in Campus Life, Film, Movies and DVDs, Research, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: movies, online video, premium content, streaming video, TV shows

Viewing Preferences: TV vs. Online

Onlinevideoshot There is a notion out there that an increasing number of teens and college students are bypassing traditional TV viewing in favor of online viewing. No doubt, online viewing is gaining traction, but it's not necessarily at the expense of traditional viewing for most young people as evidenced by the findings from this month's Insights Immersion. Despite the perceived hype, only about one in ten panelists (11%) can be classified as "online exclusive" TV viewers. The vast majority of panelists, some 67% fall under the cross-platform viewing category, while the remaining 22% have yet to really embrace the Internet as a viewing platform. Interestingly enough, it's the cross-platform viewing segment that watches more TV (both linear and online), averaging about 13.5 hours each week. This certainly makes the cannibalization argument a bit difficult to totally buy into. We'd even go so far as to say that it's the cross-platform viewers that are among the most loyal and engaged fans of their favorite and most watched shows.

Viewing Preference:

- I prefer watching my favorite shows on TV: 72%

- I prefer watching my favorite shows online: 28%

"When I miss a new episode of one of my favorite TV shows, I am most likely to catch up by..."
- streaming the episode online: 56%
- watching a recording on my DVR: 19%
- watching the episode on-demand: 13%
- talking to a friend who watched it: 4%
- other mentions: 8%

March 30, 2010 in Advertising , Campus Life, Film, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: Media Streaming, Online Viewing, TV, TV Viewing Habits

Q1 2010 College Top Ten List Report Highlights

Jan10toptenimage Another quarter is almost complete and that brings us a new wave of Top Ten. College is the first to come out this week followed by Kids and Teens next Monday. For some reason, may be it's just the simplicity of the report, Top Ten garners more press mentions than any other YT report, go figure, but I think the concept of ranking against a particular topic is something that most everyone can relate to pretty easily.

Moving onward here, the Q1 wave of College Top Ten was tweaked a bit as the celeb category was broken out by more general Hollywood celeb personalities and sports-specific personalities. We'll also continue to rotate between most socially responsible companies/brands and favorite sports-related activities. When all is said, we covered a total of 12 individual categories including favorite TV shows, magazine titles, musical artists, movie & DVD titles, male Hollywood celebs, female Hollywood celebs, sports celebs, video game titles, web destinations, clothing retailers/brands, footwear brands and sports-related activities. To read the full background and view the table of contents, click here. For non Youth Trends subscribers, Top Ten can be downloaded/purchased for $399.

Some topline highlights:

- TV: relatively unchanged at the top compared to Q4 '09, White Collar debuts among males and American Idol makes a surprise appearance among females

- Mag titles: six of the top ten titles among females are trending downwards on a sequential basis, sorta sums of the category's picture fairly well

- Musical artists: goo goo for Gaga and welcome to the list NeedToBreathe

- Movies & DVDs: V-Day performs as expected, no let up for The Hangover

- Hollywood/sports celebs: Jessica's back at the top, LeBron is still king and Elisha debuts for the first time

- Video game titles: COD Modern Warfare 2, 'nuff said

- Web sites: check out Sporcle, it's legit...

March 24, 2010 in Campus Life, Celebrities, Culture, Fashion, Film, Gaming, Movies and DVDs, Music, Print Media, Research, Retail, Sports, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: College, Pop Culture Trends

Q4 '09 College Top Ten List Highlights

Oct09collegetopten The Q4 '09 wave of College Top Ten is out and available to download. You can view the report background and full table of contents here. Top Ten provides an authentic top of mind look of what's most popular among young people (college students in this case) with respect to pop culture topics including TV shows, musical artists, video game titles, web destinations, celebrities and other lifestyle-related areas.

A few brief highlights: in the realm of TV, for the third straight wave, The Office was the top pick among college males, while Grey's was once again the top show among females. Glee debuted as the third most popular TV show among females, while MTV's Jersey Shore came in 9th among males and 6th among females.

For the second straight wave Taylor Swift was the most popular musical artist among all students, while Breaking Benjamin, Lady Antebellum and Justin Bieber appeared for the first time. Twilight stars continue to dominate the celebrity rankings with Robert Pattinson leading the way along with Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart.

On the retail front, fast fashion is still where it's at as evidenced by the performance of Forever 21, but Urban Outfitters is picking up momentum as well as premium yoga wear retailer lululemon. Finally, we included a new measurement for the Q4 wave as college respondents provided their choices for the most socially responsible companies or brands. Leading the socially responsible pack was Ben & Jerry's followed by Burt's Bees and Coca-Cola.

To learn more about Top Ten, you can visit the Youth Trends site.

February 09, 2010 in Campus Life, Celebrities, Culture, Fashion, Gaming, Movies and DVDs, Music, Research, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

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