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Thursday
- September 14, 2000
Internet to Influence Kid and Teen Spending
Offline
Kids and teens are expected to spend $4.9 billion via
the Internet in 2005, but they are expected to spend an estimated
$21.4 billion off-line based on information that they have
found on the Internet, according to new research from Jupiter
Communications, Inc., the worldwide authority on Internet
commerce. Jupiter released the research today during the
company's fifth annual Digital Kids Forum in San Francisco.
Although teens often experiment with new and innovative online
products, winning their time and attention is becoming increasingly
difficult. Businesses must broaden their online marketing
efforts and focus on driving off-line purchases, not online
transactions.
A new Jupiter Consumer Survey asked more than
1,500 teens about their online shopping behavior; 15 percent
of teens actually purchase online today. Teens said they
buy online low-priced items or media goods, including CDs,
albums, books, and videos, and clothing. However, an additional
49 percent of teens said they use the Internet to research
goods and products —and purchase them off-line—increasing
the impact that the Internet has on those items as well as
on higher priced items such as gaming consoles, PC peripherals
and software that teens often research online.
"While the online teen population is expected
to continue to increase, teens will still spend a limited
number of dollars online," said Anya Sacharow, an analyst
with Jupiter. "To capture the greater off-line influenced
dollars, marketers must provide teens with information on
their products and services that would impel them to purchase
off-line, and not solely concentrate on driving quick transactions
online."
Sacharow advises that multichannel and traditional
players invest in their online offerings to educate, communicate,
and reaffirm brand value and drive teens to off-line sources
for purchase. Businesses also must keep gender-based interests
in mind for targeting teens: girls gravitate toward familiar
off-line brands; boys are not as brand-sensitive and search
for content regardless of the source.
In research released yesterday, June 2000 Media
Metrix data measuring at home Internet use found that teens,
ages 12 to 17, spend an average of 303 minutes per month
versus young adults, ages 18 to 34, who spend an average
of 656 minutes; and adults, ages 35 to 49, spend an average
of 804 minutes. Jupiter's analysts believe that the low Internet
use by teens is attributed to teens' active schedules, necessity
of sharing online time at home with other family members;
and the perception of the Internet as an entertainment and
communication tool largely, not as a productivity tool.
Time this group spends online researching products
and services to drive off-line transactions can be even more
valuable for advertisers. Publishers that capture the precious
online kid and teen time can earn a larger part of the expected
$900 million in 2005 that businesses will spend to target
these online users.
Online Advertisers Dodge Kids
According to Forbes:
"Most kids know not to accept candy from
strangers. They also know not to tell strangers where they
live or what their names are. But if the stranger is a marketing
executive hiding behind a funny Web site that's giving away
Pokémon cards for such simple bits of information, the line
between right and wrong becomes a little less clear.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was concerned
enough about children's privacy that last year it passed
the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Since the act
became effective in April 2000, AdRelevance, a New York-based
research division of Media Metrix, saw a 56% decline in advertising
targeting children (between May 2000 and July 2000). It's
not surprising, then, that advertising targeting parents
and families grew 96% during the same period..."
Click
here for the full story.
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