by Olivier Godest, published on 8.07.2010

The Kaiser Family Foundation has recently conducted a survey of media consumption habits among 8 to 18-year-olds in the United States. Once again, the results of this survey confirm the value of developing new content to respond to the demands of swiftly changing consumer tendencies.

Here are some of the figures that caught my attention:

- 10 hours 45 minutes of media exposure per day, with TV content continuing to predominate at 4h29m, while Web + video games total an average of 1h 29m and 1h 13m respectively
- the daily consumption of 4h29m of TV content is becoming more divergent with, in particular, 2h39m of live TV, 24 minutes of VoD, 22 minutes of time shifting, 16 minutes on Ipod and 15 minutes on the telephone
- out of these 10h45m of media exposure, 29% of the time is devoted to media multitasking! With a computer on the lap, a smartphone in the hand and the television on in the background!
- generally speaking, it is TV content that benefits, with consumption rising by 38 minutes compared to 2004. In contrast, television is no longer the only source of consumption
- 66% of the sample possess a mobile telephone on which they consume a daily average of 49 minutes of media content (reasonably equally balanced between music, games, TV)
- music is an important area for exploration with consumption levels increasing significantly, in particular because the number of devices available for music consumption is increasing (phone, iPod, computer). These online media are becoming more important than CD or radio
- more and more households are now online and what is more they enjoy a high-quality Internet connection, which comes as no surprise. As a result, 33% of 8 to 18-year-olds have Internet access in their rooms. Their main activities: social networks (25%), video games (19%), visiting video sites (16%)
- media exposure times per age group: 7h51m for the 8 to 10-year-olds, 11h53m for the 11 to 14-year-olds, 11h23m for the 15 to 18-year-olds
- 79% consider that the television is on most of the time or is often on when no-one is watching it
- 71% of them have a television in their bedroom

There is no real surprise concerning the mean exposure time to the different media in the light of the sustained growth dynamic.
TV is still the predominant medium and this also includes the content produced for it. Even if consumption is no longer linear, it is content taken from TV that users look for on the other media.
More and more 8 to 18-year-olds are online, mobile in their pocket, computer connected to the Internet and television in the bedroom: the three media that are often referred to in the transmedia context are there.
Multitasking continues to grow strongly, with the figures apparently increasing with every survey.
By consuming multiple media simultaneously, we divide our attention with the result that almost 80% of respondents think that people switch on the TV in order to keep them company in some way. The challenge facing content producers, broadcasters and brands is therefore to regain the viewer’s attention.

That is good. It is what transmedia projects try to achieve!

The complete survey can be found here