Targeting College Students

With all the research my group and I have been doing on college students for our Pinkberry assignment, I was excited to read that it was recently announced that Nielsen is going to start counting the 18-24 range in their ratings. This will help tremendously for advertisers to reach this demographic not only through traditional commercials but also through product placement. This is especially important because this young generation is more likely to use the new technology such as TiVo and online episodes of their favorite shows.



According to the article, two thirds of all college students own a television and over seventy five percent of these college students watch during primetime between 8 and 11 pm. Not surprisingly, the ratings for Grey's Anatomy is expected to increase quite a bit due to the amount of viewers within the age range. This is vital information for those who want to target "generation next". And targeting this demographic is a great opportunity to get young people to try brands and perhaps form relationships with certain brands that will last throughout their lives. This age group is also more likely to respond to product placement and try the brands that their favorite characters are using.

I also found the article interesting because we have been learning about the ratings process in class. And although the Nielsen ratings aren't a perfect representation by any means, it will absolutely help paint a picture of the media habits of a group that previously has not been represented at all.

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Read the article here!
Or learn more about Nielsen at their site!