Mele’s Musings

Kids Juggle Media Too

64% of 9-17 year-olds go online while watching TV.  What implications does this have for our current and future advertising plans?

photo by: light under a bushel

Article excerpt: Creating media while consuming it. US consumers are media omnivores, right down to the youngest members of the herd.  Grunwald Associates says that in 2007, 64% of the US 9- to-17-year-olds surveyed in early 2008 said they went online while watching television. Nearly half of US teens said they did so frequently, up to several times a day.  Children have become more proficient in their multitasking since 2002, when Grunwald last conducted the study. The percentage of US child and teen Internet users who used e-mail or sent instant messaging while watching TV nearly doubled during that time.  Nearly half of the respondents said that their attention was focused mainly on the Internet when they used it in combination with TV. Only 11% said that TV had their primary attention while multitasking.
emarketer.com

Musing: The implications seem clear enough.  First, we need to really consider our marketing campaigns in this light.  It places integrated campaign planning and execution in the correct light.  The experiences we create for consumers need to be multi-channel and deeply connected.  Take-downs of TV ads online are not the answer.  Second, it means that we have to rethink the media mix.  I am not sure what the right mix is, but multi-tasking, and where their attention is going, needs to be considered much more strongly.  We have to stop pretending it doesn’t matter.  And third, we need to consider that as these kids grow up, this is likely the way that adults will consume media as well, and that has long term implications.  Whadda you think?