Teenagers find online advertising “extremely annoying and pointless” according to a 15-year-old intern at investment bank Morgan Stanley who wrote a thought provoking piece on his perceptions of today’s media.
Matthew Robson also proclaims that Twitter is for old people, teenagers do not listen to the radio and a mobile phone is used for talking to girls, according to his research piece ‘How Teenagers Consume Media’.
The London-based teen, who was described by his school teacher as “reflective”, believes cost is a critical factor in the teenage market as “no one has any money.” “Eight out of ten teenagers don’t buy music,” he added, “It comes from limewire, blogs or torrents.” Meanwhile, pirated DVDs generally cost £2 and go on sale even as the films are in the cinema.
Robson said teenagers were eager to try new media technologies and switch among them, but they were opposed to opening their wallets to pay for services.
The report has generated more than six times the interest than any other coming out of the bank's European media team, with dozens of fund managers and CEOs requesting a copy.
The document was even discussed at the Allen & Co Sun Valley conference in Idaho, which brings together business leaders, political figures, philanthropists and media executives.
Edward Hill-Wood, executive director of Morgan Stanley’s European media team said in a statement, “His report was one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen - so we published it.”
Executives and investors have grown fascinated by the opinions of teenagers. Rupert Murdoch, 78, has described himself as a “digital immigrant”, while UBS not so long ago brought in an 18-year-old to demonstrate MySpace to portfolio managers.
The three-page report broke down the different mediums into radio, television, newspapers, gaming, internet, viral marketing, music, cinema, mobile phones and directories.
Here are some more thoughts from the teen, aged 15 and 7 months.
Radio
With online sites streaming music for free, teens don’t bother tuning into the radio anymore.
Newspapers
“No teenager that I know of regularly reads a newspaper, as most do not have the time and cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of text while they could watch the news summarised on the internet or on TV. Teenagers are very reluctant to pay for a newspaper (hence the popularity of freesheets such as The Metro," he wrote.
Internet/Social Networks
Facebook is the most common asa it is good for keeping in touch, while teenagers do not use Twitter at all "it's boring".
Music
They are very reluctant to pay for it (most having never bought a CD) Teenagers from higher income families use iPods and those from lower income families use mobile phones.
Viral/Outdoor Marketing
“Most teenagers enjoy and support viral marketing... Teenagers see adverts on websites (pop-ups, banner ads) as extremely annoying and pointless...they are portrayed in such a negative light that no one follows them.”
Mobile Phones
The general view is that Sony Ericsson phones are superior, because of their long list of features, built-in Walkman capacity and value.
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