How many parents buy their preteen kids a cellphone? 35%
Posted by Charles Batchelor on December 7, 2007
WuduPlz’s market is expanding. More parents are buying phones for their young children.
Texting isn’t just for teenagers, according to this December 2007 report from Nielsen Mobile. Younger kids are getting into texting as well. (The pdf of the release is attached here.) Preteens using cellphone: Nielsen report
The report estimates that:
- 35% of tweens own a mobile phone.
- 20% of tweens have used text messaging.
- 21% of tweens have used ring & answer tones.
“Tweens use their mobile phones, and media in general, in very unique and important ways,” Jeff Herrmann, VP of Mobile Media for Nielsen Mobile was quoted as saying in a press release. “Marketers and media executives need to understand these ‘digital natives’ as they mature and reshape the way we all think about new and traditional media.”
Regarding cross media behavior of tweens, Nielsen reports that tweens spend less time surfing
the Internet than their teen counterparts. In this report, 48% of U.S.
tweens said they spend less than one hour per day online. When they
are online, 70% of tweens use the Internet for gaming. Comparatively,
81% of U.S. teens say they spend one hour or more per day online, with
e-mail being the most pervasive online activity for this age group.
“In addition to the differences between adult and youth media consumers,
there’s an important gap between the media behaviors of teens and
tweens,” said Herrmann. “This report, which includes insights from
more than 5,500 teens and tweens, dissects how these demographic
segments are engaging with mobile and traditional media.”
The report, “Kids on the Go: Mobile Usage by U.S. Teens and Tweens,” was
conducted by Nielsen Mobile and BASES, two services of Nielsen. It
also provides insights on teen and tween use of specific content
brands, genre preferences, overall use of leisure time and demographic
profiles. The full report will be released on December 14.
