A recently released Nielsen study provided a bit of a surprise with regard to young people’s media habits: viewing habits are tied to life stages and do not appear to be generational. Young people are more tech savvy and heavy users of smart phones and laptops for video viewing, the study said. The unexpected result, however, was the evidence that young peoples’ viewing changes as they age. The fact that the 12-to-24 age group doesn’t make traditional TV viewing a priority is due to several reasons, says the report, such as how busy this demographic is with school and out-of-the-home activities. But Nielsen senior vice president of consumer insights Dounia Turrill believes that as teens and young people age and settle down, they will watch more TV. Her evidence is buttressed in part by previous generations, which were tracked as watching low levels of TV in youth and then watching more as they grew older.
