Advanced Television

Teens still watch TV

December 9, 2009

Based on a Europe-wide survey of nearly 1,400 internet users aged 12-17 across seven major territories (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and Sweden), Forrster captured a number of key teen consumer trends:

—TV is still the main media channel for teens. Reports of TV's death have been greatly exaggerated. European teens still spend more time watching TV (10.3 hours per week on average) than they do using the internet for personal purposes (9.1 hours). But gaming – 11.7 hours per week if you combine time spent playing games on a PC and on a console – now consumes even more time than TV for European teens.

—Social interaction online is an integral part of media consumption. European teens have embraced social media – not only Facebook, which 44 percent visit at least weekly, but blogs, which 30 percent read at least weekly.

—Multitasking is mainstream. Content providers need to understand that for most teen users, content is rarely consumed in isolation on one platform. The vast majority of internet using European teens do something else while online – 50 percent listen to music on the PC, while 45 percent watch TV while online, for example.

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