Tweens leading
No wonder tweens are in demand. Despite widely reported jumps in Internet usage, video games and other distractions for tweens ages 9-14, ratings are up 8% last year from 2002; among kids ages 2-11, they rose 7%, according to a Magna Global USA analysis of Nielsen data. So far this year, the 6-to-14 crowd watches on average 23 hours of TV a week, less than the overall population, Nielsen reports.
“Tweens are a hard-to-reach audience for (broadcast) networks, and therefore cable networks have been making it their sweet spot,” says Rachel Geller of youth-marketing firm Geppetto Group, which estimates the 8-to-12 set spends $51 billion. “Tweens are more like children” than teens: “They hold onto their loyalties much longer.“
Though Fox’s American Idol is tops among tweens (10% of its audience), the kid-focused networks increasingly are seeking older fans.
“Some of the networks want to grow along with their audience,” says Magna analyst Lisa Quan. “It’s the next step for them to try to keep loyal viewers from their younger years.”
Says youth-market researcher Irma Zandl: “Disney hit pay dirt with their tween programming,” even as “tween boys share many of the same TV tastes as their older brothers,” from MTV to ESPN and The Simpsons.
Networks “want to ingrain their brand name in (kids’) heads early on or risk losing them altogether,” says Kagan Media analyst Derek Baine. Programmers must figure out “how to use the online world to make sure their audience base isn’t eroded dramatically.”
That explains why their websites are among the most-visited. Nick.com, with its TurboNick broadband channel, drew 18 million visitors last month; Disney’s expanded online home, which includes movies and other properties, drew more than 19 million, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
Cable TV rides the tween wave - USATODAY.com
What an AWESOME article!!! There’s MUCH more to it– so I suggest you take a wee gander. (Thanks to Anastasia from ypulse.com for locating this gem)
It’s so true! Tweens have the time to become Evangelists– they don’t have cars and they’re too old to beg for daily play-dates. Where else could they go to talk but online? The web gives them the opportunity to “own” something… feel acknowledged and empowered (even if that means lying and saying they’re a certain age to participate in social networking functions they shouldn’t be using).
They also crave acceptance– for someone to say it’s “okay” to be an awkward tween is HUGE (they’re like the middle child… the older kids get to do everything and the younger ones get all the attention). Do you remember your tweens? Mine were wretched– ugly ducklings everywhere, and weird school politics too! That’s why i LOVE Ned’s Declassified… gives tweens role models, and shows them that there are ways around problems.
There is a huge jump kids make the summer they leave junior high and head into high school. Freshman year is so tough for kids emotionally & physically– everything they know & understand is challenged. They are ushered into a confusing, harsh peer-ruled world of high school where they’ll be pushing limits & making decisions without their parents.
Granted, Junior High is tough on tweens too. It’s like a Caterpillar/butterfly scenario. Kids = Caterpillar– crawling around, playing in nature, exploring the world. Tweens = in cocoon, body changing/life changing/caged & anxious. 8th grade/summer before H.S. = slowly squishing & scrunching out of the cocoon. Freshman year of high school = wet wings/trying to fly.
It’s that cocoon that I find so interesting. Most tweens are caged in by school, parents, and a lack of freedom. They’re stuck in preparation for something big. Going to the movies with friends still sometimes means parents tag along, any free time at a mall is exciting.
They’re not kids anymore, and they’re not teens. They are the age group that REALLY look to peers for visual guidance, but in a very sincere/insecure way. They still want to trust their parents, and believe in magic (even if they won’t always openly admit it)… but they are starting to see the truth of both.
The sun is just below the horizon, it’s golden fingers stretching to the sky, shedding uncertain light on the structures of life that once seemed soooo sturdy & big. That’s quite exciting and scary… There is still enough time before the sun scars the sky for a tween to close his/her eyes and allow him/herself to believe– if not for a moment, that there are no shadows, and life’s structures are indestructible. You can’t blame a tween for wanting to believe. I still want to.
