Smartphone penetration is rising quickly among teen (12-17) households, reports Nielsen in a new release. Between Q4 2011 and Q4 2012, smartphone penetration increased by 45% in these homes, compared to 32% among households with adults aged 18-24, and 22% among those with adults aged 25-34. But smartphone penetration still lags among households with teens, while the opposite is true when it comes to tablet ownership. 27% of teen TV homes owned a tablet in Q4, compared to 20% of households with 18-24-year-olds and 24% with 25-34-year-olds.
The data reveals that teen homes don’t have greater penetration of laptops or DVRs than households with young adults. But, there is a clear difference when looking at DVD players and game consoles. For DVD players, penetration was 7.5% higher in households with teens than in households with young adults (86% vs. 80%). The gap was even larger when it came to game consoles, at 16.2% (79% vs. 68%).
Gaming is far more important to youth than to other segments of the population, according to recent data from Deloitte. In fact, trailing Millennials (aged 14-23) are almost twice as likely as the average American aged 14 and older to rank videogames (handhelds, PC, console, mobile, online) as a top-3 media activity (39% vs. 20%). What’s more, 41% of trailing Millennials agree that advertising on videogames (all forms of games) influence their buying decisions more than any other form of advertising.
