Last week after watching the record-breaking premiere of The Walking Dead, I once again was captivated by the series’ ability to provoke discussion. The series has an amazing ability to stir people to talk about what they just saw.
The Walking Dead is not only one of the most popular shows on television, it’s one of the most discussed. Sure, people like Duck Dynasty, but you won’t find a lot of water cooler discussions happening the next day discussing why Godwin decided to put his $200 hot tub in the front yard. You will, however, find countless circles of people debating Continue reading “The Gospel According to The Walking Dead”
“34% of Millennials watch mostly online video/no broadcast TV.”
That’s what the headline says, and I’m inclined to believe it. Think about it. College kids, in dorms… how many of them have DirectTV? Not many. My son and daughter (both in college) binge more on Netflix than anything else. Tired of studying? Catch up on three episodes of Breaking Bad in one sitting. Alyssa (a college freshman) watches live TV only Continue reading “Young People and Binge TV”
What songs fill your teens’ music library in that device in their pocket?
Which artists are the biggest role models for young people today?
What truths are your teens gleaning from these heroes?
The VMAs answered these questions with a megaphone on Sunday night, and surprisingly… people were actually surprised with the answers. Funny. The event wasn’t surprising in the least. It was typical Lady Gaga, typical Miley Cyrus, typical Justin Timberlake, Typical Bruno Mars… typical MTV.
Sad that “typical” is often confused with “no big deal.”
So what can we take away from cable’s #1 entertainment telecast of 2013 among young people age 12-34? Glad you asked.
Here’s our Youth Culture Window article unveiling what millions of young people gleaned from this eccentric and aberrant pop culture jamboree this year.
MTV is rolling out the heavy hitters this year for the 2013 VMAs: Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis… practically everyone teens want to see.
The question is: what will young people take away from Sunday night’s show?
We’ve seen an increase in nudity and sensuality on TV, in Music Videos, and other entertainment media in the last few years. Should we be concerned? Is America concerned?
STD rates are up in my city and up to 23% higher in my entire state. These rates are the highest among young adults age 15-24. I thought it was bad enough in 2008 when the U.S. Center for Disease Control informed us all 1 in 4 teenage girls in America have an STD. Is America’s chillaxed attitude about sex sending young people the wrong message?
My girls went to Italy and France last summer and saw some of the classic paintings and sculptures from brilliant artists like Michelangelo, DaVinci… and those other Ninja turtles. As they gazed at nude paintings in the Louvre and on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel… my wife didn’t cover their eyes.
The rumor is true, the FCC is considering allowing more sex and nudity on televisions. Their website posted a public notice last month proposing an end to “the prohibition of expletives and certain images of nudity on television.” Then clean shows like CBS’s Two and a Half Men could finally let loose and tell racy jokes… uh… oh wait…
Sure, network TV is already pretty racy, and blurred/pixilated nudity is increasing logarithmically, but if you want to know where this FCC consideration is heading, just watch a single episode of HBO’s Girls or Game of Thrones (Actually… don’t. But read how some parents are responding when they are exposed to the “soft core porn” of these popular new shows).
“It’s crucial to get to know them now in order to better understand who they’ll be tomorrow.” –The Teen Transition, Nielsen, 4/16/2013
I start the majority of my workshops with a youth culture quiz. I ask parents and youth workers, “Do you know today’s teenagers? Are you familiar with their culture, attitudes, habits and trends.”
But keeping up with today’s teen is no easy task, because the only constant is change… especially in the area of technology.
Which screens are teenagers clocking the most time in front of?
The answer has always overwhelmingly been the traditional TV. But, as a guy who spends a few hours a day researching youth culture, I’m not sure that it’s going to stay that way.
Each year new studies emerge revealing the growing popularity of other screens like the laptop, the smartphone and the tablet. This new Harris Interactive study, for example, shows 30% of young people age 18-34 favoring TV as their primary source of news and entertainment, with a very close 28% favoring the laptop computer.
The race is getting closer.
But let’s be clear, these studies vary depending on how you ask the question. For example, in the end of 2011 I blogged about a study where teenagers were asked, “What would you rather give up, T.V. or internet?” A slight majority said they’d give up TV. But if you look at the most recent Nielsen reports, you’ll find that young people (even as young as 12-17) are clocking more butt time in front of a TV than in front of a computer.
So which is it? And is perception different than actual time spent?
As a parent of three teenagers with iPhones, I can’t help but observe a huge increase in mobile app time. In my house, my kids’ daily smart phone time probably exceeds their daily TV time. But my kids don’t watch much TV, and I don’t want to assume that my home is an accurate representation of America.
It’s funny to look at all the different numbers various studies come up with. Sometimes it’s difficult to know who to believe. I’ve learned to look for common trends in reports. For example, most reports agree that smart phone ownership is growing, which is boosting the amount of time that kids are using social media. But most reports also agree about the draw of the TV. What differs is exactly how many hours young people are spending on each medium.
It’s important to notice these differences among age groups. For example, if you look at most studies about 18-25-year olds, they don’t seem to watch as much traditional TV as other age groups. Maybe this is because a huge chunk of them are in a college dorm without cable or Satellite. My 19-year-old son lives in a dorm at Azusa Pacific University. When he watches TV, he’s usually streaming Hulu or Netflix on his laptop. Compare that to his grandpa who watches almost all television via DVR on his TV.
The one source that no ones seems to doubt is the Kaiser studies. In 2010 Kaiser released their most recent “entertainment media” study, a study released every 5 years and cited by almost every periodical, newspaper and medical journal. This report revealed that the average 8-18-year old in America watches over 4 hours of TV a day, listens to over 2 hours of music and spends over an hour online.
The only problem? The report only comes out every 5 years!!!
So the last numbers we have are from the 2010 report, which are 2009 numbers. That’s 4 years ago. Back then, Pinterest wasn’t even on the map, and most teenagers didn’t own smartphones (now 74% of 25-34-year olds and 58% of 13-17-year olds do). What will the 2015 report reveal?
One thing for sure… and I’m sure no one would argue. Young people sure spend a lot of time in front of screens!
What about you? What do you observe out of your kids?
Does TV consume more time from your teenagers than other screens?
Maybe it was the unique matchup of two teams, one from each U.S. coast, who barely scraped wins from some of the closest and most challenging championship games in years.
Or maybe… it was the commercials.
Americans love Super Bowl Sunday, an American holiday of sorts. I’ve shared my theories on why. But it’s undeniable that this television event is one where people actually want to watch the ads. Maybe that’s why these spots sell for $4 million for just 30-seconds.
This year, I had two favorites. I can’t tell you which is my No. 1, because I loved them both for different reasons.
My favorite funny ad had to be the Doritos ad, “Goat for Sale.” This little 30-second ad was hilarious, memorable, and actually made you remember the brand advertised. That’s a lot of bang for your buck… er… your 4 million bucks. Check it out:
But the sentimental side of me (or as my wife would call it, “the woman in me”) loved Anheuser-Busch’s heartwarming spot, “Brotherhood,” showing the raising and training of a young Clydesdale horse that is sold to Budweiser, only to be reunited with his former trainer for just a few seconds years later.
Yes… I cried.
This spot was the No. 1 spot of the day, according to Ad Meter, winning by a nose. Check it out:
USA Today posted all the best commercial videos, clickable and ready to watch, in order of popularity on this page, or you can view the whole list here.
My Soapbox
Let’s be honest. Watching TV is becoming a struggle for many parents today, regardless of religious belief, because when you sit down to watch a show as a family, you hope to not have to leap across the couch and cover little Josh’s eyes.
Yesterday was probably a pleasant experience overall for parents, but they definitely grew nervous a few times, like when the GoDaddy ad featuring gorgeous model Bar Refaeli began. But unlike previous years, where GoDaddy admittedly used eye-candy, this year they just used… awkward?
CBS definitely aired a few ads that made parents squirm in their seats: the racy Carls Jr. ad—sexy girl eating a burger, or perhaps the Gildan shirts ad where the guy wakes up Hangover-style in furry handcuffs and wants his shirt back from the girl lying in the bed. Maybe we should celebrate that ads like this ad for PornHub didn’t make the cut this year.
I think one of the most obvious ploys used by television networks over the years is the attempt to lure viewers to watch the program immediately following the Super Bowl. Often, networks use low hanging fruit like eye-candy or raunchy humor to entice viewers. (Did you notice the commercial for CBS shows where they advertised, “irresponsible”? I guess that’s a marketing draw now.) This year, CBS showed a special episode of their new show Elementary, usually airing on Thursday nights. As the show began, two girls in lingerie seduced Sherlock Holmes and tied him to a chair. I’ve seen this show numerous times and it’s never used this tactic before. I guess CBS had to bet “all in” if they were to try to win those Super Bowl viewers.
INSERTED NOTE:To those who are wondering why I decided not to even cast any opinion about the Super Bowl halftime show this year: Why? Because it was exactly what people should have expected. Beyonce always dresses like that, she always dances like that, and America, in general, embraces her, seeing no problem with her onstage antics. Celebrities who dress modest are actually the exception today. The most innocent of our daughters’ role models dress slutty, and our girls are learning that’s it’s readily acceptable to dress slutty. It’s a wonder why parents are sitting around scratching their heads wondering why our teenagers act the way they do at school dances. Our girls are slowly becoming sexualized; I’ve blogged about this countless times. So if you found the Super Bowl halftime show surprising… my only response is… where have you been? If you found the Super Bowl halftime show sad… my response is… good! You just saw a glimpse of the kind of entertainment media our kids are simmering in daily.
So my simple advice to parents is twofold: co-viewing and dialogue.
Don’t let your kids watch TV by themselves. Do what the AAP recommends and watch TV with them. I would go further and recommend recording shows with a DVR so you can use my three-button approach to watching TV with your kids, opening doors of opportunity for dialogue. Yes, dialogue, not monologue. In other words: don’t lecture, but ask questions. After seeing a guy waking up from a one night stand wearing furry handcuffs, ask your teenagers some questions,
“So what do you think this commercial is saying?”
“Is it telling the whole story?”
If you keep up on youth culture, like when you need my new Youth Culture Window article about teenage binge drinking I’ll be posting this weekend (sign up to receive these articles in your inbox HERE), you can even cite a recent study and ask your kids’ thoughts about the truth on the subject.
Nielsen Research released their brand new Social Media Report today with the latest data about exactly how much time people are spending on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter… and which sites they prefer.
Consumers are spending 20 percent of their personal computer time on social networks, and 30 percent of their total time online on social networks via their mobile devices. I believe it. My daughter Ashley seems to live on Facebook, and my daughter Alyssa can’t get enough of Pinterest!
Yes, Facebook still reigns as the most popular social network site, with Twitter gaining popularity, and Pinterest exploding in growth (a year-over-year increase of 1,047%, compared to Facebooks 4% decrease).
Follow
Last week after watching the record-breaking premiere of The Walking Dead, I once again was captivated by the series’ ability to provoke discussion. The series has an amazing ability to stir people to talk about what they just saw.
