Media Multitasking

The way young people are consuming media is changing dramatically and this report by the Kaiser Family Foundation explores trends in the growing phenomenon of media multitasking amongst young Americans. It highlights an increase: 26% of media time is spent on multiple media, up from 16% of media time in 1999. However, despite all the hype about new media bringing the death of TV – TV still remains the dominant media in the lives of teens and tweens. New technologies have not (yet) kyboshed the media landscape. However, the report also reveals that performance decreases when these teens and tweens attempt to perform two tasks simultaneously – which raises the question of what this means for marketers who want to attract the attention of Gen X and Y?