Executives at Morgan Stanley were stunned – stunned! – by a recent report from a 15-year-old intern that stated that teens don’t read newspapers, hate ads and don’t like to pay for music.  Executives scrambled for copies of the report, much to the amusement of regular people, who weren’t the least bit surprised by these “revelations.”

But the excitement underscores the importance marketers place on understanding teens and marketing to them effectively.  Nielsen recently published a research report about marketing to teens with some surprising findings.  Of particular interest:

• Teens aren’t always simultaneously using several different media channels at once.  In fact, they’re more likely than adults to use their media one at a time.
• They’re not abandoning TV for new media – they’re actually watching more TV than ever.
• While teens remember less ads than adults, once they do notice an ad, they’re more likely to find it appealing.  And they’re not skipping commercials as much as previously thought: only about a third of teens have a DVR, and even those teens do most of their television viewing live.
• And one less surprising finding: teens prefer text messaging to calling.  The report states that “the average U.S. mobile teen now sends or receives an average of 2,899 text-messages per month compared to 191 calls.”

The report comes to an interesting conclusion: teens aren’t that different than the rest of us!  And like most of us, they’re impacted by factors such as social networking and mobile internet.

Just remember: if you want them to spend money, it will most likely come from their parents!

Sources: “Twitter is not for teens, Morgan Stanley told by 15-year-old expert,” The Guardian, July 13, 2009; “How Teens Use Media,” Nielsen, June 2009