Nielsen Goes Inside the Mind of the Kiwi Teen

Nielsen Media Research Goes Inside the Mind of the Kiwi Teen

Nielsen Media Research Goes Inside the Mind of the Kiwi Teen Launch of Panorama NZ Teen ID

AUCKLAND - Nielsen Media Research, the global leader in audience and advertising measurement, has released Panorama NZ Teen ID, the first analysis of its kind.

"Panorama NZ Teen ID is the first annual truly comprehensive report on New Zealand teens," says Belinda Freeman, Director, Panorama, Nielsen Media Research NZ. "It reveals Kiwi teen behaviour across shopping, media consumption, food and drink, usage of goods and services as well as their attitudes and activities."

"Teenagers hold tremendous sway over the advertising retail and media worlds," adds Freeman. "The 10-19 age group accounts for approximately 575,000 people living in New Zealand."

"To market effectively to this group, marketers and organisations need to try to understand what motivates teens, because their motivations are different from the general population," adds Freeman.

The study confirms some behaviour and attitude trends that parents of teens have long suspected, such as male teens under 14 aren't much interested in shopping and teenage girls are high users of personal care products, but it also reports some fascinating revelations.

* Despite what some teens might say, 10-14 year olds are reasonably inward focussed and their world still largely revolves around their family and home. In particular, females in this age group are very family oriented, even to the point where they feel that family is more important than a career. Peer group pressure is starting to influence this group but it is not likely to be a significant influence yet.

* In contrast, 15-19 year olds are moving away from the family unit as their primary focus, and socialising with friends outside the home is more important.

* In some respects, young teen males seem child-like rather than teenage-like in terms of the TV they watch (kids TV), shops they visit (toy shops) and entertainment they enjoy (kids entertainment venues).

* Females in the 15-19 year old age group are certainly health and image conscious but also seem to indulge heavily in snack foods, fast food, alcohol and smoking.

* Most 15-19 year olds have a savings account; a smaller proportion have cheque account. A very small minority own a credit card.

* One in five 15-19 year old males (22 percent) and one in ten 15-19 year old females (11 percent) have personal incomes of over $10,000 a year.

* This is also the group most likely of the teenage groups to have read a community or suburban newspaper.

* Males in the 10-14 age group are very good at eating breakfast every day whereas females aged 15-19 are not so good at incorporating breakfast into their daily routine - which may explain some of their indulgence in fast foods and snack foods.

* Nearly all teens have access to the internet. Younger teenagers are most likely to use the internet several times a week, while older teenagers appear to be even more frequent users with a reasonably high proportion logging on to the internet daily.

As well as being attitudinally and behaviourally distinct New Zealanders, Kiwi teens have a different demographic make-up. While the teen population is relatively evenly split between males and females, there's a strong diversity of cultures amongst teenagers with more 10-19 year olds being New Zealand Maori or Pacific Islanders compared to the 10+ population overall.

Panorama Teen ID is the end result of a survey of 1,557 people. It combines the accurate and powerful national standards of Nielsen Media Research's PeopleMeter data combined with Nielsen Media Research's National Readership Survey, and product usage information gathered from face-to-face interviews.

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