Teens hate online ads,twitter,paying for music; prefer going to movies, concerts

[Syt]

Guardian: Twitter is not for teens, Morgan Stanley told by 15-year-old expert

Report on young people's media habits written for investment bank by teenage intern causes huge interest in the City

Julia Kollewe
guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 July 2009 11.08 BST Article history
Traditional media, including watching television, is losing ground to new media, according to Matthew Robson's report. Photograph: Howard Kingsnorth/Getty

A research note written by a 15-year-old Morgan Stanley intern that described his friends' media habits has generated a flurry of interest from media executives and investors.

The US investment bank's European media analysts asked Matthew Robson, an intern from a London school, to write a report on teenagers' likes and dislikes, which made the Financial Times' front page today.

His report, that dismissed Twitter and described online advertising as pointless, proved to be "one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen – so we published it", said Edward Hill-Wood, executive director of Morgan Stanley's European media team.

"We've had dozens and dozens of fund managers, and several CEOs, e-mailing and calling all day." He said the note had generated five or six times more responses than the team's usual research.

His colleague, Julien Rossi, added: "It's an interesting starting point for debate."

The rapid surge of interest in social networking and messaging sites has prompted speculation that sites such as Twitter or Facebook could be taken over. But Robson's report, which was sent to Morgan Stanley's clients as a research note last Friday, suggested that such a move could be folly. He said teenagers were using more and more media, but they were unwilling to pay for it.

"Teenagers do not use Twitter," he wrote. "Most have signed up to the service, but then just leave it as they realise that they are not going to update it (mostly because texting Twitter uses up credit, and they would rather text friends with that credit). They realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their tweets are pointless."

He warned that traditional media – television, radio and newspapers – are losing ground.

No teenager Robson knew reads a newspaper regularly since most "cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of text while they could watch the news summarised on the internet or on TV". The only newspapers that are read are the cheaper tabloids and freesheets.

His peers are also put off by intrusive advertising so they prefer listening to advert-free music on websites such as Last.fm to traditional radio. Teens see adverts on websites - pop ups, banner ads - as "extremely annoying and pointless," Robson said. However, "most teenagers enjoy and support viral marketing, as often it creates humorous and interesting content".

He stressed that his peers were "very reluctant" to pay for music and most had never bought a CD, with a large majority downloading songs illegally from filesharing sites.

Money and time are instead devoted to cinema, concerts and video game consoles. Downloading films off the internet is not popular as the films are usually bad quality and have to be watched on a small computer screen and there is a risk of viruses, Robson said.

Game consoles like Wii, which are now able to connect to the internet and offer free voice chat between users, have emerged as a more popular choice for chatting with friends than the phone.

His report came as media moguls gathered at the Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. This annual event is a chance for the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to discuss the latest business and technology issues in a relaxed atmosphere.

When interviewed at the event, Murdoch appeared to rule out making a bid for the micro-blogging site Twitter. Asked if he was considering buying Twitter, Murdoch said, "No." Asked about selling MySpace, he replied, "Hell no."

[Valmy]

Wait we are tracking trends based on the preferences by the friends of one 15 year old?

[Razgovory]

15 year olds hate everything and use the word "pointless" to much; news at eleven.

[garbon]

It should be stirring interest. Morgan Stanley should wonder why it pays for a research department when it could just employ one English teen and get the same result.

[Syt]

It's a bit like a Disney movie, though. Uptight rich capitalists think they know what everyone wants or should want and are told off and woken up by a heart warming essay written by the mail boy.

[Eddie Teach]

I think the point of advertising is subliminal, nobody ever thinks it works on them.

[garbon]

I think the point of advertising is subliminal, nobody ever thinks it works on them.

Actually I think advertising works on me. I can think of things that I likely would not have purchased had I not seen an ad that reminded me or notified me of the product's existence.

[Neil]

The only people I've ever seen using Twitter are adults.

[Zanza]

I think the point of advertising is subliminal, nobody ever thinks it works on them.

It must work very subliminal when my ad blocker doesn't even show it to me.

[DisturbedPervert]

I think the point of advertising is subliminal, nobody ever thinks it works on them.

Internet advertising can't work if you don't even see it thanks to Firefox.   

No teenager Robson knew reads a newspaper regularly since most "cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of text while they could watch the news summarised on the internet or on TV

Sounds like he has reading difficulties.

[Eddie Teach]

I think the point of advertising is subliminal, nobody ever thinks it works on them.

It must work very subliminal when my ad blocker doesn't even show it to me.

Popups only or does it block the ads on the page?

[Jos Theelen]

I think the point of advertising is subliminal, nobody ever thinks it works on them.

It works on me. So when I see an advertisement that I don't like, I stop buying that product.

[DisturbedPervert]

Popups only or does it block the ads on the page?

Adblock Plus for Firefox can block almost every ad on the internet

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

[Strix]

I somehow doubt that a 15 year old who works as an intern at a financial organization has his finger on the pulse of teenagedom.

And when does a teenager ever pay for anything? Their parents do.

This reminds me of the episode of the Simpsons when Homer meets his long lost brother who than lets Homer design a car for the everyman. It has fail written all over it.

[Neil]

I think the point of advertising is subliminal, nobody ever thinks it works on them.

It works on me. So when I see an advertisement that I don't like, I stop buying that product.

Toyota's insipid advertising ensured that I will never buy a Toyota.  Moreover, when the world is mine, no one will be permitted to buy a Toyota.