For Immediate Release:

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Youths Spending More Time with Cell Phones & MP3 Players

Bridge Ratings & Research recently concluded the second phase of its study on the media habits of 15-24 year olds and has confirmed initial perceptions that young people continue to spend less time listening to the radio as a result of increased use of the internet, cell phones and MP3 players.

The study conducted during the second half of 2006 found that 33% of 15-24 year olds are listening to less radio as a result of their time on the Internet, while 10% are spending more time. The 33% number is up from 20% in a similar study taken in August 2005.

Other findings of the study include: nearly a quarter (24%) watching less conventional TV with an almost identical number (22%) saying they are spending more time watching video on the Internet on such sites as YouTube, Yahoo! and MySpace, or streamed replays of prime time shows on TV network websites.

The study also found that young people are spending most of their total media time (23%) online, more than watching television (22%), listening to the radio (16%) and listening to their MP3 players (19%).

The study revealed that music, instant messaging and video streaming dominates online activity for this age group with the Internet increasingly providing a cheaper and more convenient means of purchasing and downloading tracks. 42% of 15-24 year olds have downloaded music online in the last thirty days compared to 27% in 2005 and 18% in 2004. 29% of this age group still visit and purchase music at traditional brick and mortar stores down fro 38% in 2005. Respondents were asked what offline activities they commonly conduct while online:

• Homework is cited by more than half (53.3 percent).
• Watching television shows or movies (38 percent)
• Sending text messages by cell phone (35% percent) or Instant Messages (34%)
• Listening to the radio (24 percent)
• Watching music videos on television (22 percent)
• Talking on a cell phone (21 percent)

Nearly one-quarter (22 percent) spend time Streaming video on-line.

Three out of four (74 percent) teens have visited a social networking web site.

More than a third (34 percent) say the internet is the best source for discovering new music. Next are television, radio and word of mouth.

More than half of those questioned (52%) are prepared to pay for music download services compared to 45% two years ago. 49% prefer free downloads.

 Youth Audience Erosion to New Media

The following chart shows trend lines for select media use for this demographic:

The sample was also asked about their music consumption experience. Downloading music on-line has increased significantly over 2005, while traditional radio is still mentioned by 89% of the respondents as being a primary source for music consumption.

Media Use Trending

Comparing media use by this demographic over time offers a perspective on their changing habits especially with the advantage of a 16 month comparison. Table I reflects responses from our just-released study. Table II reflects responses to the same questions from August 2005.

Data released January 20, 2007 - Table I

Data released August 20, 2005 - Table II

Concurrent Listening

A 2005 Ball State University study found that the 18-24 year old age group spends more time per day than any other group on instant messaging, mobile phones, music, video use and game consoles. Conversely, print media are predictably absent from the top concurrent media exposure ranks for 18-24 and 25-34 persons. In just a few decades, daily computer use has risen to trail only television averaging 166 minutes a day to TV's 266 minutes a day.

In this new 2006 Bridge Ratings study, when looking at the 15-24 age group computer use exceeds even that of television.

The following chart shows the percentage of time spent with a given medium is shared with another medium. For example: Only about 15% of time spent watching TV is shared with another medium, compared with an average of more than 71% for computer-based activities. It is not unreasonable to expect the need for singular attention to be paid to TV due to the medium's need for singular attention. While computer and/or internet use allows for either constant or periodic non-focused attention.

The study used a sample of 2620 people aged 15-24 years in Dallas, Washington, DC, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Portland (OR) and St. Louis (MO).

For additional information, contact Dave Van Dyke at 818.291.6420.

Bridge Ratings is a ratings and research company based in Glendale, California. We are dedicated to providing on-going, immediate, reliable, useable and affordable audience measurement services for the radio industry. Our methodology is based on sound consumer research principles. We are in the business of tracking listeners - not listening. Because we are a true research company we offer flexibility