So what are the cool kids going to be watching this fall?
According to research by OTX, the Online Testing Exchange, the show that 13-17 year olds are aware of and intend to view is The CW’s “Gossip Girl.” ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” came in second in intent to view.
Other shows that teens show a high level of awareness of include NBC’s “Bionic Woman,” CBS’ “Kid Nation,” ABC’s “Cavemen” and “Pushing Daisies.” The CW’s “The Reaper,” Fox’s “Nashville” and “The Next Great American Band” and The CW’s “Aliens in America” also ranked high in the teen awareness study.
The findings come from OTX’s Teen Topix survey, done in conjunction with the eCrush social networking site for youngsters. About 750 teens across the country were surveyed about their TV viewing behavior and preferences during the week of Aug. 6.
Bruce Friend, president of media and entertainment insights at OTX, said some people may be surprised by the survey’s finding that when it comes to learning about TV shows, teens said on-air promotions and other ads are their source of information.
“For all of the hype surrounding blogs and video-sharing sites, it’s important for networks and marketers to understand that a majority of teenagers still get information about new programming from TV ads and promos,” Mr. Friend said.
With teens, he added, word of mouth comes in much higher as a source of information than with older viewers. That word of mouth can come through direct conversation or via technologies as diverse as instant messaging and cell phones.
“Networks should know there are a lot of different ways to reach the teen market,” Mr. Friend said.
One promotional strategy that showed up high on the list was cinema marketing.
“That didn’t exist 25 years ago for TV shows,” Mr. Friend said. Now when he goes to the movies, he sees promos for four or five network shows at cinemas in the AMC, Regal or other major chains.
According to the survey, 51 percent of teens said they typically find out about new TV shows from ads or promos on TV, while 33 percent said friends talk about it and 28 percent said they heard from other kids in school.
Internet ads were cited as important sources of information about TV shows by just 25 percent of the teens surveyed. That ranked ahead of magazine ads, TV network Web sites, talk/news/entertainment shows, radio ads, newspaper articles, billboards, entertainment and video-sharing Web sites, blogs and newspaper ads.
While there are more opportunities than ever to watch TV shows, 70 percent of teens said they planned to watch a given show live, in its scheduled time period on TV.
About 21 percent of the teens plan to use digital video recorders, VCRs or DVD recorders, and another 9 percent will watch via video-on-demand. Downloading or streaming from the Web was the choice of 7 percent, while 4 percent said they’d wait for the DVD to come out. Three percent planed to purchase shows they wanted to see from iTunes or similar sites.
The survey also asked teens about their network preferences. The teens were asked what network most matched the statement, “This network totally gets me.”
Fox, probably because of its animation block on Sunday, was the only broadcast network in the top 10.
Cable networks most often cited by the teens were MTV, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, VH1, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel and Nick at Nite.
While the CW had three shows on the list of programs teens are aware of, the network itself as a brand didn’t score with the respondents. An OTX spokesman said The CW is probably too new to be well established in the minds of kids.
(Editor: Horowitz)