OMG! Does Media Reach Millennials?

NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Local market consumer insights company Scarborough today released a complimentary study which uncovers the unique ways the 20 percent of American adults who are Millennials^* engage with media, as well as their general attitudes and demographics.

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The new study concludes that Millennials are the first generation to be hyper-connected to their world, their local community and their friends. Expecting news and media to come to them, Millennials are 53 percent more likely than all U.S. adults to feel that social networking websites are very important for finding information about news or other current events. They are also 56 percent more likely to have read a newspaper on a mobile device in the past 30 days, 86 percent more likely to have listened to radio online and nearly twice as likely to have watched or downloaded TV programs online.

Millennials are also the most multicultural American generation. Forty-three percent of Millennials identify as a race or ethnicity other than white as compared to 38 percent of Generation X^* and 26 percent of Baby Boomers^*. Nearly one-quarter (21%) of Millennials self-identify as Hispanic and 62 percent of Millennials agree that their cultural or ethnic heritage is an important part of who they are.

"It is essential to realize that Millennials have a natural orientation toward social media especially since they are a demographic who came of age during a time of rapid technological advancement," says Deirdre McFarland, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Scarborough. "By understanding that Millennials still consume news, but that ease of access in engaging with the medium is critical, marketers and advertisers can craft a more intuitive marketing mix to appeal to this young audience."

In addition to the comprehensive database of Millennial research used for this study, Scarborough interviewed Millennial staffers whose thoughts and opinions are featured throughout the study for a richer perspective.

Download the complimentary study issued by Scarborough for a deeper look into the Millennial generation at www.Scarborough.com/FreeStudies.php.

^*Scarborough defines the different American generations as Millennials (age 18-29), Generation X (30-44), Baby Boomers (45-64) and the Silent Generation (65+).

Continue the conversation or share your opinions with Scarborough over Twitter by reaching out to @ScarboroughInfo.

This data is from Scarborough USA+, Release 1 2012/GfK MRI Attitudinal Insights. Scarborough measures 210,000 adults aged 18+ annually across a wide variety of media, lifestyle, shopping and demographic categories.

For more information regarding this or other Scarborough studies, please contact Brad Sherer at [email protected].

About Scarborough Research

Scarborough (www.scarborough.com, [email protected]) measures American life. Our consumer insights reflect shopping patterns, media usage across platforms, and lifestyle trends for adults. Media professionals and marketers use Scarborough insights to make smarter marketing/business decisions on things like ad placement, multicultural targeting, and sponsorship opportunities.  The company's core syndicated consumer insight studies in 77 Top‐Tier Markets, its Multi‐Market Study and its national USA+ Study are Media Rating Council (MRC) accredited. Other products and services include Scarborough Mid‐Tier Local Market Studies, Hispanic Studies and Custom Research Solutions. Scarborough measures 2,000 consumer categories and serves a broad client base that includes marketers, advertising agencies, print and electronic media (broadcast and cable television, radio stations), sports teams and leagues and out‐of‐home media companies. Surveying more than 210,000 adults annually, Scarborough is a joint venture between Arbitron Inc. (www.arbitron.com) and The Nielsen Company (www.nielsen.com).

SOURCE Scarborough Research