New research from Jupiter MMXI reveals the value of online teens to European marketers. Currently, teenagers represent 12% of the European online population and are spending a significant and increasing amount of their time online. In June 2001, 12 – 17 year olds in Europe spent nearly 8 hours online representing an increase of 2 hours in the UK and France, and 3 hours in Germany since January 2001.
As teenagers are receptive to new and innovative technologies they are a key target for online and mobile advertising and also have a propensity to share discoveries and information with friends, maximising the impact of the advertisers message.
In the UK, Jupiter MMXI data shows services such as MSN Messenger are very popular with teens as are retail, entertainment, news and search sites.
Jupiter MMXI also looked at teenagersÂÂ’ behaviour on retail as a huge number of 18 – 25 year olds have credit cards and are keen to browse and shop online although younger teenagers, those not in possession of the means to shop online spent more time on these sites just browsing.
In June 2001 teenagers at home spent on average 7.5 minutes per day and 19.5 minutes per month on retail sites, whereas 18 to 25 year olds at home spent on average 6.5 minutes per day and 19 minutes per month on these sites.
Noah Yasskin, European research director for Jupiter MMXI said “While they don’t transact online because they don’t have credit cards, the Internet impacts teens off-line purchase behaviour. Longer term, as experienced users, they are likely to become online shoppers when they become adults. Much of today’s teen behaviour will be mainstream tomorrow. Teens pioneered text messaging on mobile phones and chat on instant messenger applications, both of which are becoming widespread. They are showing the potential uses of the Internet beyond e-mail and visiting websites using a browser. Teens flocked to Napster and are heavy users of communication applications sending their peers music files, photos, and other digital content.”
