AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising

One-Minute MarketerTeens Love Music and TV

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Teens Love Music and TV

It’s funny, but when you think of a teen, you may only see — in your mind’s eye — a teen’s head looking down at a small screen. The research shows teens have a broad diversity of media usage every day. But not every teen is always looking down at his or her phone.

A new study by Common Sense Media shows what media U.S. teens are using on a daily basis (the percentage represents who engages in each activity “every day”):

  • Listening to Music 66%
  • Watching TV 58%
  • Using Social Media 45%
  • Watching Online Videos 34%
  • Playing Mobile Games 27%
  • Reading 19%
  • Playing Computer Games 17%
  • Playing (console) Video Games 15%

The reason this chart of usage may be surprising is the popularity of off-line media (TV and reading). It’s hard to break stereotypes, unless you look at the data.

Written by:

Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.