Maybe not so elusive

Those of us in the business hear so much about the elusive eyeballs belonging to young people that it’s sometimes amazing to hear that kids these days have any eyeballs in their heads at all. I’ve written earlier that I’ve found that teens and college kids are still watching ads, but only the ones they like, and often on their own time on Youtube.

I’ve recently gotten word from some others planners on the street who are hearing similar stories, suggesting that the media habits of college kids haven’t changed as dramatically as we are always hearing. They still watch a lot of MTV and ESPN. They still recite lines from their favorite ads (e.g. “suck one”) with the same enthusiasm that the generation raised on “Where’s the beef?” and “Wassup” did. They still prefer watching their favorite shows on the biggest TV’s they possibly can (HDTV’s now) on the crappiest left-over furniture they can drag from their parent’s basement.

The biggest change from the previous generation seems to be that more girls are playing video games, making the wii a great way to get young women to join the party on your porch furniture.