Young People on Digital Content

By 18 To 24 Insight Archives
Cover image for  article: Young People on Digital Content

Young people consider online video content more of a necessity than cable television. They love their Macs. Content piracy is not as prevalent as you may think. And digital video advertising is a necessary evil.

Last week 6 high school and college students sat before an audience of online video content creators, publishers and advertisers to share their thoughts on online video. Held during the Streaming Media East 2008 conference in New York, it was moderated by Peter Cervieri, Director of Business Development for Scribe Media.

When asked how much online video content they consumed, the panelists agreed that their consumption fluctuated depending on whether or not school was in session (They consume less when school is in session). Each of the panelists admitted to consuming anywhere between ten minutes and two hours of online video content per day, which they’ll watch at school, at home, alone and with friends. Videos are shared among peers and this often leads to exploring related videos or videos by the same uploader or creator.

According to the JackMyers Emotional Connections Study, 2007:

•    36.6 percent of teens 15 to 17 spend more than three hours per day online for personal enjoyment (37.7 percent male, 35.6 percent female).

•    44.5 percent of adults 18 to 24 spend more than three hours per day online for personal enjoyment (45.3 percent male, 43.8 percent female).

•    48.2 percent of teens 15 to 17 say they occasionally or frequently watch television programs online (53.5 percent male, 42.9 percent female).

•    41.8 percent of adults 18 to 24 say they occasionally or frequently watch television programs online. (46.4 percent male, 37.2 percent female).

Online video content isn’t just for entertainment. Mia, a high school senior said, “Recently, I’ve been using YouTube for classes. For my government class, I use it to check out news clips. I mostly use YouTube as a resource for classes.”

Emily, also a high school senior, agreed. “I basically do the same thing but I also go on sites like alluc.org to watch shows that I’ve missed on TV or on NBC online to watch reruns of The Office.”

When asked if they watch content on mobile devices, 2 of the 6 panelist said they’ll watch content on an iPhone or iPod. Michelle, a 22-year-old college graduate said, “I have a video iPod. I usually just use it for music but when I travel long distances, I’ll watch something that I’ve downloaded. But generally, it’s for music.”

Jonah, a recent college graduate said, “On my iPod, I generally just download music videos off of iTunes but a lot of my friends have iPhones and I’ll watch videos that they have on their iPhones.”

According to the JackMyers Emotional Connections Study 2007:  Media and Technology Usage:

•    19.9 percent of adults 18-24 frequently or occasionally view network tv programs on their cell phones.

•    21.8 percent of adults 18-24 frequently or occasionally view user-generated videos on their cell phone.

•    22.2 percent of adults 18-24 frequently or occasionally view news and sports video on their cell phone.

(Data based on those who had used the technology in the past week.)


Cervieri then asked “Who here has an i-anything?” All six of the panelists raised their hands. When asked, “PC or Mac?” by an audience member, all the panelists simultaneously replied “Mac!”

“I would have said PC 3 years ago, but definitely Mac now,” said Mia.

“I just got a new Mac!” said Michelle.

“They’re so much more user-friendly. They make so much more sense. Just the fact that on PC’s, you have to go to the Start button to shut down doesn’t make any sense to me,” said Emily.

When asked about compatibility issues when watching online video content, the students agreed that it isn’t much of an issue and that when it is, they prefer to move on than to download and install new software, even if it is free.

When asked if they were ever online while watching TV, the panelists all said they almost always were and that watching TV would often trigger online activity.

“I’m usually online when watching TV. I spend a lot of time on IMDB because I’ll look up what I’m watching,” said Michelle.

Sam, a high school senior agreed. “Very often, after watching TV or a movie, I’ll go on IMDB because you want to know where an actor is from. Usually going on IMDB triggers you to go to other sites because it just leads to other actors and movies you’re interested in.”

The panelists agreed that multitasking, i.e. studying while watching TV or surfing the web while watching TV were essential to being efficient with their limited time.

An audience member asked, “Can you live without cable TV? If your parents canceled the multichannel service or if you moved out and were on a tight budget, would you just drop the $70 cable bill and just get your TV online?”

Jonah responded, “Absolutely. TV would be the first thing to go, especially when you have the alternative of online video sites.”

“I don’t think that if I had the extra money, I would spend it on a cable bill. I think I’d spend it on a better computer or buying movies. TV isn’t a necessity because there are other ways for you to get what you get on television,” said Mia.

When asked by an audience member if they “stole content,” Jonah replied, “Well, you mean ‘liberate,’ right?”

In order to put the panelists at ease, Cervieri suggested they talk about their friends, and not necessarily their own pirating habits. But even then, the students said that their “friends” weren’t very inclined to pirate content. Guilt over stealing content and revenue from content creators as well as punishment for pirating content were among some of the reasons cited for paying for content.

According to the JackMyers Emotional Connections Study, 2007:

•    Among teens 15 to 17 who listen or download music online, 84 percent do so occasionally or frequently. 

•    Among adults 18 to 24 who listen or download music online, 76 percent do so occasionally or frequently. 

“I’ll use Acquisition or Limewire when I’ve just heard song that I think is really interesting. But after I’m downloading more than 2 or 3 songs for an artist, I’ll probably just buy it,” said Sam.

The panelists also agreed that pricing is important but so is the ease of paying. “A lot of kids my age don’t have credit cards and don’t have debit cards so they can’t really pay for stuff online and they don’t really want to go bug their parents about it. So I think they’ll spend the 3 hours finding a way to find the movie for free rather than paying for it, even if it’s only $3.99,” said Mia.

Young people have also found alternative ways to listen to free music without illegal downloading. “My friends go on YouTube to watch the music video of the song. It’s free,” said Dylan, a 15-year-old high school student.

“It differs between movies and music. If you had asked me this question 3 years ago, I would have probably said that I do download music for free but now, because there are so many websites where I can just listen to the music, I don’t really need to download it. On Facebook, you can listen to a whole song rather than just a clip. Very often I discover a new artist on Facebook,” said Mia.

The panelists’ thoughts on online video advertising varied. While they expressed frustration with pre-roll ads, they admitted that pre-rolls were probably more effective than banner ads, which largely go unnoticed. The length of the pre-roll is crucial, as the panelists said they’d click out of a window if a pre-roll ad was as long as the video content itself. Interactive and animated banner ads were well received by half the panel and deemed intrusive by the other half. No one commented specifically on content sponsorship.

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