I found the following statistics in The Journal for Student Ministries this weekend, and thought they were worth sharing.
(Before you read, I must tell you that the more I read them, the more I felt like a small bit of ice in an ever-growing snowball. Each stat heaped more evidence of a clutter-filled life upon the previous statistic, and when I finished them, my head hurt from the overwhelming success culture enjoys at garnering the attention of the American teenager. It’s a little frightening. And it should be.)
TV
- TV consumption among teens is up slightly to an average of 11.9 hours a week.
- Teen boys watch more television than teen girls, averaging about an hour and a half more (13.2 hours a week).
- For tweens (8 to 1), the average amount of television consumed during a typical week is 12.2 hours, with tween boys watching about 14.5 hours (during the school year).
- Three of ten guys’ top-five favorites are animated, led by The Family Guy, followed by The Simpsons and South Park.
- The Office moved up nine slots to the third most popular show among all teen males.
- Biggest mover for teen girls: ABC Family’s Greek, which came in tied for eighth.
- For tween viewers, American Idol is no longer number one; now it’s Hannah Montana.
- For tween girls, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars moved up four notches to land in the fifth spot.
- For tween boys, it’s all about SpongeBob and Zack & Cody. The biggest mover was the ABC comedy The George Lopez Show, which shot up 10 spots to secure the seventh spot.
Internet
- Teens spend 12.5 hours online while tweens spend only 6.4 hours (typical week during school year).
- Teens have grown tired of MySpace and have moved on to Facebook in the past couple of months.
- Only a couple of virtual worlds are on tweens’ radars.
- The top sites tweens visit — Webkinz among both tween boys and tween girls. Then Neopets, owned by Viacom’s interactive unit, as well as Nick.com.
- Club Penguin remains in third place for tween girls and dropped from 11th place to 13th place for tween boys since last summer.
- AddictingGames is fast becoming the top casual gaming site among all youth.
Entertainment and Pop Culture
- During a typical month teens seen an average of 1.8 movies (in a movie theater).
- Tweens see an average of 1.3 per month.
- Tween attendance is consistent with a year ago, while the average number of movies teens see in a typical month has increased slightly from 1.5 movies a year ago.
- Most appealing movie genres for teens: Action/Adventure titles, followed by comedies.
- Tweens prefer comedies, followed by animated features, then action/adventure.
- For the third straight year, Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp retains the title as the most popular Hollywood celebrity among teen and tween females.
- Funny man Adam Sandler is tops among the boys, followed closely by the two Will’s — Smith and Ferrell.
- The most popular female celebrity among teen girls? Miley Cyrus, followed by Reese Witherspoon, Keira Knightley, and Amanda Byrnes.
- The top female celeb among teen boys is Jessica Alba for the second straight year, followed by Miley Cyrus, Ashley Tisdale, and Alicia Keys.
Retail and Shopping
- During a typical month teens spend an average of $135 across nine product categories.
- Nearly half of their spending goes towards clothing and accessories.
- For 16 and 17 year-old teens who have part-time jobs (minimum of 5 hours per week), their spending across the same nine categories jumps sharply to $264 a month, just about double the average among all teens and about 45% higher than the average for all 16 and 17 year-olds.
- For tweens, it’s all about candy, gum, and games.
- The most-visited specialty clothing retailer among teen females is Victoria’s Secret, followed closely by Hollister.
- Teen males visit American Eagle Outfitters more often than any other specialty retailer, followed by Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister.
- Old Navy, for both tween boys and girls, remains the most shopped at specialty clothing retailer by a considerable margin.
It’s all a little overwhelming, isn’t it?
