Like television for a previous generation, the Internet is quickly becoming the principal mode of information and communication for today's youth. Young people now turn to the Internet to read the news, chat with their friends, play games, download music, and to shop.

To better understand how this generation views the Internet, and to explore how these views vary across cultures, IDC, in conjunction with RKM Research and Communications, recently completed an innovative study of 15- to 24-year olds in the United States, Brazil, and Russia. The implications of the strength of the Internet versus television as a communication medium are significant for media and advertisers alike as they try to find a balance between the more static pushed content and user-generated or -controlled content.
Using both explicit and implicit measures of attitude and behavior, IDC measured the strength of association between the Internet, television, and key positive and negative attributes among youth of the three countries. In general, the study found relatively strong associations between television and the negative concepts presented (e.g., inconvenient, boring, etc.). In contrast, the associations with the Internet tended to be positive (e.g., fun, necessary, etc.), although weaker than the associations between television and the negative concepts.

"The growing acceptance of the Internet as a central fixture in the lives of young people has significant economic implications, provided that future Internet adopters continue to view the Internet as safe," said Carol Glasheen, vice president of IDC's Quantitative Research Group. "Much of this success will depend on the ability of advertisers and marketers to understand and address the perceptions and concerns of the current youth population."

In comparisons across the three countries, Brazilian Internet-savvy youth use the Internet more on a daily basis than do American or Russian youth, although American youth are more likely to use the Internet every day. Nearly all Russian Internet-savvy youth use the Internet to obtain news, while they tend to shop online less than their Brazilian and American counterparts. Among the implicit findings, American Internet-savvy youth have generally weaker associations with the Internet than do Brazilian or Russian youth, suggesting that American youth may take the Internet for granted.

The IDC study, How Do Global Youth View the Internet? Implicit Associations Testing Reveals the Answer (Doc #202628), presents the results of a recent survey of 302 15- to 24-year olds in the United States, Brazil, and Russia on how they view the Internet. The report's findings include how much time youths from each country spend on the Internet and watching television and what they do or watch while pursuing each activity. The report also examines the group's implicit attitudes toward each medium using a response-time methodology that measures associations to numerous concepts which more accurately predict youth Internet purchase behavior. This allows readers to understand youth automatic associations at a deeper level than can be achieved through simple self-reported data.