Information consumers ages 14-24 would rather read news about music than any other subject, according to a survey of 570 people in that age bracket conducted by the MTV Networks division of Viacom, Inc., the multimedia content publisher which owns CBS, Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Video and a host of U.S. television stations.
Betsy Frank, executive vice President, research and planning for MTV Networks, outlined findings of the MTV-commissioned survey in a May 17 talk to the annual meeting of the California Society of Newspaper Editors and the Associated Press News Executives Council.
The reading order of preference for teens and young adults, Frank told the editors, is music, local news, current events, international news, national news and politics. This contrasts with the traditional priorities of newspapers, Frank, said, which put politics on top and news about young people and music near the bottom. The young consumers prefer a local newspaper, according to an Associated Press account of Frank's survey report, because they think it is less-bias toward their generation.
To appeal to young readers, Frank concluded, newspapers should add more entertainment news and liven up their Internet sites.
Frank joined MTV Networks in 1997 from Zenith Media Services, the media specialist arm of Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising, where she held a succession of positions. Prior to joining Saatchi & Saatchi in 1978, Ms. Frank held positions at the Bristol-Myers Company and Ted Bates & Company. She is also a member of the Board of Governors of the International Radio and Television Society, the Advertising Research Foundation, and CTAM. She earned her degree from New York's City College and studied Art History at Hunter College.
The CSNE convention was May 16-18, 2002 at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel in Anaheim, Calif.