According to Alloy Media, 24% of teens are on the Internet 15 or more hours a week, and the average time spent is 11.5 hours. They also watch a lot less TV than the rest of us. According to MRI’s Mediamark Reporter, the top TV Quintile of 18-24 year olds are indexes just 66 vs. Total Adults. So what, in fact, are they watching, online and ontv?
MRI Medimark Reporter shows MySpace and MTV are the most highly penetrated channels with over 40% of 18-24 year olds watching (see table)with VH1 and YouTube are right behind. The surprise for me was the high popularity of [Adult Swim]. With 21% penetration and an index of 368, its penetration rivals that of Facebook.
For those of you over 30 who may not be familiar with [Adult Swim], it’s what runs between 11PM and 6PM Eastern, 7 nights a week, on the Cartoon Network, the HBO of animation. While it began as a spinoff, today it is a channel in its own right. Adultswim.com carries a variety of streamed video, games and social media opportunities. Here’s what that most knowledgeable of sources, Wikipedia, has to say about it:
Adult Swim, (usually stylized [adult swim] with its signature square brackets), is an adult-oriented television network sharing channel space with Cartoon Network in the United States.[1] The programming features animated shows, including original programming, syndicated shows, and Japanese anime, generally with minimal or no editing for content. The shows are geared toward a 16+ audience, in contrast to the child and pre-teen daytime programming on Cartoon Network. The shows and commercial breaks are usually interrupted by “bumps”, or moments where short jokes or internet fan feedback (which they sometimes respond to in a sarcastic manner when it is negative) are broadcast in simple white letters over a black screen. The network is programmed by Williams Street Studios, who have created Toonami and Miguzi; they play American animated series and shorts geared towards adults, and in the past have played a wide variety of Japanese anime series, OVAs, and movies.
Promotions for Adult Swim are targeted towards the college age and 20something/30something group, constituting the majority of their viewers. According to an article in Promo magazine, representatives travel to 30 universities across the U.S. to promote the Adult Swim lineup, including handing out posters for students’ dorm rooms.
David Carson reports in today’s Ad Age that online video has a bigger audience than cable TV.
Sites like YouTube.com, MTV.com, and Adultswim.com are making the idea of one channel, three screens seem more like a reality all the time. Reaching Millennials may be a matter of allowing them to direct the content they want to the screen — TV, computer or mobile phone — they want.
