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Viewing report
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Millennium Youth Market Assessment 2002
Key Note Publications Ltd, Nov 2002
The M-Generation - those who will come of age in the first decade of the century - represents the first wave of a technologically-switched-on, affluent generation of young people.
In 2000, the under-16s formed 21% of the total population: this proportion will decrease to only 18% by 2011. Young people in the 15 to 19 year-old group represent a rising growth market in the short term: between 1997 and 2005, numbers will have risen by an estimated 10.2%. However, much slower population growth is evident in the 10 to 14 year-old sector, which will increase by only 3.6% over the same period, and numbers will enter long-term decline after 2011. Youth markets are set to become smaller and less lucrative as a portion of the whole.
The concept of family has changed rapidly for young people, as divorce rates have increased. Only one in four households now corresponds to the traditional image of two parents and two children. Despite these upheavals, young people are conservative in their views on family life and relationships. Personal relationships are the most important lifestyle priority for young people. Greater economic dependence and, perhaps, less generational conflict, has ensured that today's young people are in many ways closer to their parents than previous generations. They trust their parents more than any other person of authority. The majority believe that their parents have a good balance between life at work and home. They, in turn, would put family first if they had to choose between having a family or a successful job.
The M-Generation is turning away from engagement in mainstream politics and is more motivated by local or single-issue political campaigns. They are avid consumers and are heavily influenced by the contemporary cult of celebrity and the technological freedom that mobile telephones and the Internet allow them. The M-Generation is convinced of the value of education, and their educational achievements are rising. An increased majority wants to continue into higher education. However, many young people are very pragmatic about the cost of this move. A significant number of lower- to middle-income families feel that high costs will be a deterrent to their progress and the majority of young people take it for granted that they will have to find some sort of part-time work in order to fund their studies.
There is a growing recognition among employers, young people and teachers that the current education system is not equipping young people with good skills in the marketplace. Too much emphasis on assessment and curricular learning has led to dissatisfaction with pupils' social skills engendered by participation in the sports and in the arts. Changes to more vocational and experiential methods of learning are imminent.
Young people have recently benefited from increased affluence: more than eight out of ten (82%) say that they have more money now than 2 years ago. Most now receive approximately £6.80 per week in pocket money. The most popular items of expenditure are mobile telephones, clothes and computer games. 82% of 11 to 16 year-olds have their own bank account.
New technology is transforming the spending patterns of the M-Generation. Mobile telephones have become a priority item of expenditure and there has been a significant downturn in spending on confectionery and teenage magazines as teenagers spend more on pay-as-you-go cards. There has also been a significant rise in spending on brown goods, since our last Millennium Youth Market Assessment report in 1999. 39% of young people now own their own personal CD player. 76% of households now have their own PC. Increased access to a PC has fuelled demand for computer and video games.
There has been an explosion in short messaging service (SMS) use, growing from a non-existent market to 45 million messages a day over a 4-year period. SMS is proving to be the fastest-growing medium to target the elusive teenage audience, with several leading brands successfully using text message promotions. Customised teenage websites, such as Habbo Hotel, are proving their worth, both as forums for teenagers and platforms for marketers to generate accurate research data. Use of these sites has been stimulated by the creation of new methods of payment, such as Splash Plastic, which allow teenagers to buy goods and services online.
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