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New Research: How teenagers use their mobile phones

By Andrew Redfern @ 10th October 2007 9:20 pm

A new study released today by OTX taps into the complex lives of the 13-17 year old set. The report focused specifically on teens across the country and were surveyed about their mobile phone preferences and behaviour.

A key finding of the study was insight into the way mobile phones make teens ‘feel’ and the benefits they get from mobile phone ownership.

When asked about benefits, a majority of teens cited reasons such as ‘convenience of being able to communicate from anywhere (77%)’ and ‘security of being able to reach family (75%)’ as major benefits.

Much lower on the list were friends’ admiration of their mobile phone features (41%) or look (39%). When asked specifically how mobile phones made them ‘feel’, teens again opted for connectivity with friends (71%), connectivity with family (63%) and being responsible (61%), over important (31%), fashionable (30%), or trendy (27%).

“This report sheds new light on many marketers’ image of teens,” said Amy Gibby, President of eCRUSH. “Its not all about ‘look’ and ‘fashion’ when it comes to this category, teens are practical and look for many of the same benefits we all do.”

When teens were asked about the mobile phone features they have and use, text messaging was overwhelmingly cited as the feature they use most (72%), followed by the ability to customize wall paper (72%), take digital pictures (63%), and play games which come with the phone (56%). Much lower on the list was downloading music (36%), and downloading videos (22%)

Text messaging was also cited as the feature teens want most (among those that don’t have this eature), well ahead of taking digital pictures, downloading music, or using an instant messenger program.

Mobile phones are rapidly becoming the “new” medium for viewing music videos! 41% of teens surveyed have video downloading capability on their mobile phones and approximately half of those teens are actually downloading and viewing videos.

Among these teens, music videos are the most watched type (67%), followed by user generated content (27%), full length TV shows (24%) and clips from TV shows (24%). 31% of teens who watch video on their mobile phones also reported that their consumption of TV, DVDs, and movies has not decreased.

“As media companies move into the mobile space, it’s critically important to understand how the teen demographic uses mobile technology for entertainment and the extent to which this usage affects their other media and leisure time behaviours,” said Bruce Friend, President, Media and Entertainment Insights for OTX.

If your company needs to know more about the mobile marketing marketplace then contact HitSearch and see how we can help your business grow. Remember, its a big world outthere, make sure you become visible.

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