If the results of the Defy Media survey hold in the years to come, then TV will very much be taking a back seat to digital media such as YouTube and Netflix. The survey found young people are eschewing TV for digital platforms and that they don’t even mind the ads.
Working with Kelton Research and Hunter Qualitative, the L.A. based Defy Media conducted its 4th annual Youth Media Diet survey by contacting some 1,300 Americans between the ages of 13-24. Of those, 65 percent of them said they watch digital content from their day’s beginning — even before school — until the evening hours.
Fifty-seven percent called digital content a “mood lifter” and 61 percent said it was a “stress reliever.” Given they are watching it throughout the day you’d have to think it was indeed doing something to make them feel better.
Defy Media Executive Vice-President Andy Tu told Mashable respondents feel “connected” by viewing digital content. “So many people talk about being connected,” Tu said. “They wake up and go to bed watching video in all these different platforms.”
The survey also found that 60 percent of these young people use digital media to keep up to date on happenings in the world, 47 percent of them use it to learn new skills and 44 percent of respondents will even use digital media to help them fall asleep at night
“The “video diet” of today’s 13-24 year olds has become an around-the-clock smorgasbord with the explosion of new platforms and proliferation of mobile devices,’ the Defy Media report notes. “Fueling the hours watched is social media-based video; no longer a snack, it has become a video destination in its own right.
“Looking at the full menu of sources—digital, terrestrial, paid, free, new and old—our study reveals how video is more than an amusement or a way to pass time; it’s a tool that connects youth to friends and family and helps manage the ups-and-downs of everyday life.”
You can access the full report on the Defy Media website. Defy Media is a digital media company that produces online content such as Screen Junkies and Smosh.
Its collection of online brands get over 220 million unique viewers worldwide monthly.
