Despite becoming increasingly tech-savvy, most children aged between 8-14 still prefer their TV to their PCs, according to a new global survey looking at how kids interact with digital technology. Surveying 18,000 “tech embracing” kids (8-14) and young people (14-24) in 16 countries: UK, Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The study focused on 21 technologies that impact on the lives of young people: internet, email, PC, TV, mobile, IM, cable and sat TV, DVD, MP3, stereo/hi-fi, digital cameras, social networks, on and offline video games, CDs, HD TV, VHS, webcams, MP4 players, DVR/PVRs, and hand-held games consoles. The study conducted by MTV & Nickelodeon, challenges traditional assumptions about Kids relationships with digital technology, and examines the impact of culture, age and gender on technology use. The study showed how 59% of 8-14 year-old kids still prefer their TV to their PCs, and only 20% of 14-24 year-old young people globally admitted to being ‘interested’ in technology.

Dude, where’s my audience?

• Saved

Katie Cincotta
July 26, 2007
LiveWire

 Photo: Penny StephensAdvertisement

Gen Y is switching off the radio, telly and stereo and turning to the internet for, well, just about everything.

Digital natives, they call them. Raised on the revolution of broadband, mobiles, MP3s and the user-generated content explosion, young audiences are fast tuning out of traditional media.

TV viewing audiences have fallen by almost 6 per cent in the past five years, with a dramatic 17 per cent drop for 16-39-year-olds, according to TV ratings group OzTAM.

Other research by Roy Morgan shows that TV isn’t the only traditional player to suffer – Gen Y is spurning newspapers, magazines, radio and cinema in favour of the internet. But time spent online by 14-25-year-old “heavy internet users” doubled from 18 per cent in 2002 to 36 per cent in 2007.

Head of digital marketing agency Hothouse Interactive Simon van Wyk says audiences are skipping the traditional habits of free-to-air TV, live radio and CDs in favour of content they can access any time, anywhere – courtesy of the internet.”

Media has changed. It used to mean channels Nine, Seven and Ten. Now media means your own website,” he says.

Read the rest of the article here. 

The Next-Generation of UI’s hit the street here recently on DoCoMo 3G handsets produced by Sharp and NEC. The Vivid UI by Tokyo-based Acrodea “integrates various types of multimedia content including 3D graphics, Flash animation and full-screen movie backgrounds which enable handsets to be easily personalized with graphically enhanced menus and dynamic standby screens.”

This platform middleware shipped embedded with several nifty pre-installed stock menu designs and users can also select other unique schemes available for download, at an average ¥500 each, via the dedicated i-mode portal. While it’s no secret that people love to customize their cellphone with the lastest ringtones, and an ever-growing collection of dangling charms, this in-your-face rich menu design functionality is set to take that trend to a whole new level.

As more developers get their hands on the content creation tool, and as brand owners begin to realize this is a natural vehicle to connect with their markets, we fully expect this style of user interface to become a common standard in the near future.. and not just in Japan.

Online video activities are outpacing the growth in popularity of other digital media, while social networking is quickly becoming the dominant online behavior globally according to a new study by Ipsos. Over the past few years, the growth of digital music behaviors, particularly downloading music files online and burning CD-r’s, introduced millions of Internet users globally to the virtues of the digital medium, blazing a path for other entertainment media to follow. At the end of 2006, it appears that online video activities seemingly have taken over the torch as the driving force in the next stage of digital media’s growth, having a profound impact on the way consumers access and view video content around the world. Participation in online video activities is climbing quickly in many developed markets of the world. Growth in these behaviors was most prevalent within the U.S., where today well over one-third of recent Internet users (36%) have watched a TV show or other video stream online, compared to 28% at the end of 2005, while three-quarters of these adults have done so in the past 30 days.

In markets such as the U.S., where homes are saturated with televisions and DVD players, video content is a predominant part of consumers’ daily lives. Increasing penetration of broadband access and PC ownership globally signals that the PC will begin to really assert itself as a ‘second screen’ within the household.