Teens, Tweens: More Than Surfers

A new study shows teens and tweens are doing more than surfing the web. For many between the ages of 8 and 18, the Internet is a place to spend money.

by Kristina Knight

The study, from eMarketer, shows that more than 2/3 of kids 8-14 are online and many are shopping, comparing and buying. Citing Packaged Facts estimates, the study estimates that the tween market spent about $9.7 billion dollars last year alone.

Many are on social networking sites like MySpace, others can be found downloading music and watching television online. "Today's young consumers are revolutionizing the media marketplace," says Debbie Solomon, Group Research Director, MindShare, in an interview with Yahoo Business. "The Internet is an incredibly important medium among the next generation of leading U.S. consumers, so top marketers will have to go beyond the traditional approaches and explore a range of emerging media strategies in order to connect with these consumers."

Mindshare Online Research Group estimates that 1/3 of teens (12-17) and 1/4 of tweens (8-12) are logging on to watch favorite television shows. They are also using game systems, iPods and cellphones to watch television.

According to the survey, television was the thing that would be most missed by the age group, followed by video games and the Internet. Magazines and newspapers barely showed up on the survey.