What is entertainment to 18-yr olds, MTV Study tries to answer

Young people today are seeking entertainment in everything they do and the mantra is ‘if there is no fun in it, why do it all'.

That’s the key finding of ‘Recreation Redefined’, the latest study by MTV Insight Studio which aims to answer the question - what is entertainment for today’s 18 year old?

The study was conducted amongst 3000 youngsters (15-24 yr olds, SEC A & B) in 16 Indian cities. Packaged in an interactive format which has video diaries, quotes and user-friendly data tables, the study aims to be guide for marketers targeting youngsters.  

Aditya Swamy, senior vice president, sales and marketing, MTV India says, "The speed and comfort with which young people are adopting and adapting, makes this a very exciting time for youth marketers. We at MTV enjoy the sheer challenge of trying to stay ahead of this formula 1 generation. Our approach with this study has been to understand what entertainment means to young people by immersing ourselves in their world, talking their language and understanding their symbols and I hope this serves a useful tool to all of us who are looking to get a greater return on our marketing investments."

Swamy says the findings did throw up some surprises.

"One is that recreation has transformed from being a single activity, to that involving many activities. People want to play and play equally, whether it comes to experimentation, enjoyment, work, relationships," he says. "Secondly, the adoption is trends is much faster in small towns. Youngsters in such towns are more experimentative with the choices for recreation as well. Thirdly, categories such as telecom are seen as more fun because there is so much you can do with the cellphone - chat, download, call, play games and more."

The study also threw light on why some role models appeal to youngsters than the others. "For example, Rahul Dravid looks soaked up in pressure in tense matches, but Dhoni appears to be having fun even under pressure. That's what youngsters like about Dhoni," points out Swamy.

The study also found some stats: 25,800 minutes are spent by young India on entertainment every month, that’s 60% of their time; chatting, and not social networking is the most popular entertainment activity on the internet with 82% people on chat versus 40% who are into social networking; and youth in small and emerging towns are more avid gamers as compared to those in bigger cities.