Reaching Your Teens
In the first of a three-part series on teen trends, we discuss today’s teens and what they’re doing online
Ah, the kids these days. They’ve been pilloried and misunderstood—and striven to be understood—by their elders even before James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo portrayed them with such affection in “Rebel Without a Cause.”
But today’s teens (those aged 12 to 17) not only have tremendous buying power, they also have dramatic influence over what goes on online. In 2008, teens represented nearly 25 million people in the U.S. alone, according to MRI, and, says a report by TRUStudy, pumped some $127 billion into the U.S. economy last year. In fact, according to a recent study published by the Kaiser Family Foundation, today’s youths spend about seven-and-a-half hours with electronic media each day.
Put your arithmetic cap on, because we’re going to run a few numbers past you.
Key teen facts (2008)
- 19.9 million: Total U.S. teens online (MRI).
- 97: Percentage of U.S. teens online, the most online of any age demographic (MRI).
- 10: Percentage of the total U.S. online population consisting of teens (comScore).
- 368.4 million: Total hours spent online monthly by U.S. teens—18.5 hours average per visitor, per month (comScore).
- 23: Percentage increase in the average amount of time spent online per week by U.S. teens, from Autumn 2005 to Autumn 2008 (SRI).
That’s a pretty impressive market. So where does Yahoo! fit into all of this? We thought you’d never ask.
Teens on Yahoo!
The fact is, Yahoo! has a very strong position for advertisers who want to reach the teen audience. Here are some more facts and figures, courtesy of comScore.
- 14.4 million: The number of U.S. teens on Yahoo! in April 2009.
- 2.2: The average number of hours spent on Yahoo! per month per U.S. teen visitor.
- 52: The percentage of U.S. teens online that the Yahoo! front page reaches.
- 17: Average number of monthly visits to Yahoo! per teen visitor.
- 9: The percentage of time online that U.S. teens spend with Yahoo!
In short, if you are trying to reach teens, Yahoo! is a great place to be. Want to know where your teens are? Yahoo! offers an industry-leading demographic targeting solution to help you target specific messages to your most important audiences, including teens. For more, visit the Demographic Targeting page on Yahoo! Advertising.
Next time: What teens want online, and how you can help them get it.
Sources:
MRI: TwelvePlus, 2008
TRUStudy: Teens, Spring 2008
comScore: Media Metrix, April, 2009
SRI: Knowledge Networks, MultiMedia Scan, Fall 2005 vs. Fall 2008 Based on Teens 12-17
— Michael Mattis
(Image by mikebaird via Flickr, CC 2.0)
[ 2 comments | Categories: Audiences, Industry Trends, Insights, Research, Targeting ]
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