New research shows that teenagers and Generation Y consider their mobile phones vital and use them constantly, while baby boomers watch a lot of streaming video online. For Australian business, this new information offers valuable insight as to how these target audiences can be reached through advertising.

If baby boomers are your target audience, streaming videos are an excellent avenue to tap in to this market. A report by The NPD Group shows that 61% of baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) regularly download or stream video content over the internet. 72% of all internet users regularly watch video advertising content. Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for The NPD Group, says, “As more consumers of all ages spend more time online, there’s potentially going to be less time for them to consume entertainment content in traditional ways.”

Video advertising can be in the form of sponsoring videos, so that a short comment about your company appears at the beginning and/or end of a video. Businesses could also film and publish online their own video advertisement, in a format similar to a television advert. Advertisements can then be placed on the websites of related companies or sites appealing to your target market with high traffic.

One of the most successful viral video advertising campaigns in recent years was US-based Stride chewing gum’s “Where In The World Is Matt?” campaign. The video showed a young man dancing in various locations all around the world. An email-forward favourite, the video enjoyed approximately 20 million views the world over. Smart, funny videos with clever humour or interesting footage are often passed around the internet by customers as viral marketing.

Crupnick says, “These findings underscore the growing need for entertainment companies to promote and distribute digital entertainment content online, in order to keep pace with the changing needs and desires of consumers of all ages.”

For companies trying to reach teenagers and young adults, mobile advertising is absolutely the best way to go. Neilson Mobile’s research shows that mobile text messaging has increased by an epic 450% over the past two years. A typical cell phone user sends and receives over 350 text messages per month. The average teenager however (aged 13-17) send and receive 1,742 text messages monthly, with the 18-24 age group sending and receiving 790 messages per month.

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