Everyone loves dancing on the grave of traditional media – that is, until the stats come out.
And according to a youth-focused survey conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation, 7-12th graders in the US are watching quite a bit of traditional television. In fact, the time spent watching TV (4 hours, 29 minutes) is almost double that of music (2 hours, 31 minutes) on a typical day.
Unlike TV, music is more of a multi-tasking pleasure. Or is it? According to the study, the percentage of teenagers juggling music with other forms of media and tasks was a reported 43 percent. But that barely shaves a 39 percent result for TV.
But wait: it gets even more traditional! It turns out that a majority (59 percent) of this tube-time is still live, old-fashioned television, though on-demand formats like DVR, DVDs, mobile channels, and sites like Hulu are quickly shifting the balance.
Perhaps there’s a parallel to music, where iPods still enjoy a very comfortable lead over mobile devices. And, CDs and radio still claim one-quarter of all listening time. Surveyed teenagers revealed that 29 percent of their music-listening happens on an iPod, compared to 12 percent for mobile devices.