New Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll Presents In-Depth Profile of America’s Tweens/Teens and Young Adults, Most Entertained – and Bored – Generation of the Information Age

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 3, 2006 – In an exclusive five-part Los Angeles Times series beginning Aug. 7, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll will present an in-depth – and, for marketers, a worrisome – profile of America’s tweens/teens and young adults – two highly prized consumer segments that, with their vast arsenals of electronic gear, are the most entertained – and perhaps the most bored – generation of the Information Age.

The survey is the first in an annual series of Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg polls focusing on pop culture, entertainment, and media consumption habits.

The five-part series will be available beginning Aug. 7 at www.latimes.com/entertainmentpoll. Corresponding poll results and analysis for each daily installment will be posted at www.latimes.com/timespoll.

Series Highlights

Aug. 7 – Survey Overview

• With their vast arsenals of electronic gear, they are the most entertained generation of the Information Age. Yet the YouTubing, MySpacing, multi-tasking teens and young adults widely seen as Hollywood’s Most Wanted audience are feeling – can it be? – a bit bored with it all. Even in a kajillion-channel universe, there aren’t nearly enough options.
• The revolution in entertainment, media and technology that many in Hollywood are preparing for has yet to fully take hold. If these teens and young adults seem hesitant to watch filmed entertainment on their mobile devices, there’s more troubling news: The multiplex isn’t that popular, either.

Aug. 8 – Movies

• Hollywood has followed a rigid moviemaking formula for decades: produce long features, show them first in theaters, release them on video, then broadcast them on television. This dusty model just might not be good enough anymore.
• Cell phones and video iPods aren’t the answers, yet. Teens may not be ready to watch short films on these devices, but they’re dying for something new and exciting.

Aug. 9 – Music

• In the music industry, copied CDs and so-called “school-yard” piracy is now considered a greater threat than illegal peer-to-peer downloading. For some teens, copying purchased CDs or DVDs is legal, while copying stolen music or movies is a crime. A look at the widespread confusion that proliferates as the line between piracy and legality becomes ever murkier in the iTunes age.

Aug. 10 – Television

• Entertainment purveyors may be rushing to package their content into mobisodes, video downloads and podcasts – that no one needs. Teens and young adults – the generation most likely to be the early adapters of this new technology – have yet to fully embrace it.
• Jon Stewart, watch out. Of all media sources, teens and young adults say they’re least likely to get their news from edgy comedy shows, MTV or even the Internet. Try local TV news.

Aug. 11 – Tweens

• A fun book…music playing on the computer…a PlayStation 2 game in the console…email…and surfing the Web. And homework, too. The ability to juggle homework, entertainment and communication with friends has become a key requirement for the modern teenager.

Results are based on nationwide Web panel interviews, conducted from June 23-July 3, 2006, with 839 teenagers between the ages of 12-17 and 811 young adults 18-24 years of age.

About the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll

The Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll surveys public attitudes about government and politics, economics and finance, international affairs, and social and cultural issues. The national opinion polls are conceived and designed by the Los Angeles Times Poll and Bloomberg, and conducted by the Los Angeles Times Poll. The first joint poll was launched in January 2006. The Los Angeles Times Poll was established in 1978.

About the Los Angeles Times

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a daily readership of nearly 2.2 million and about 3.3 million on Sunday. With its media businesses and affiliates – including latimes.com, TheEnvelope.com, Times Community Newspapers, Recycler Classifieds, Hoy, and California Community News – the Los Angeles Times reaches approximately 7.6 million or 58 percent of all adults in the Southern California marketplace every week.

The Los Angeles Times, which this year marks its 125th anniversary covering Southern California, is part of Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB), one of the country’s leading media companies with businesses in publishing, the Internet and broadcasting. Additional information about the Los Angeles Times is available at www.latimes.com/mediacenter.

Contact:
David Garcia
213-237-4715
david.garcia@latimes.com