NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Class of 2013 stormed onto campus this year in heftier numbers, armed, reportedly, with heftier wallets and loaded with the latest trappings of technology, according to findings released today from Alloy Media + Marketing's 9th annual College Explorer, powered by Harris Interactive(R). The College Explorer survey reports that projected annual technology spending among college students (ages 18-30) has reached an all time high at $6.5 billion. These high-tech students are also racking up major media time, with the survey revealing that students are spending a significant and notable portion of their day immersed with their must-have "tech" gadgets.
The largest class in history, with 13.8 million college students (ages 18-30) on campus this year, this growing and influential group is responsible for a record $250 billion in projected spending power -- up nearly 6% over 2008 figures. Projected discretionary spending shows a comparable gain, with these college students reporting peak figures at $56 billion. In just four short years, these numbers mark a substantial 37% hike in spending.
Take Stock in Tech
That $6.5 billion in projected annual technology spending shows a slight rise over 2008 figures and accounts for all of the many forms of technology available to today's student populace, including computers, mobile devices, MP3 players, and gaming consoles and devices. Notably, technology purchases fall just below the top two discretionary spending categories: food and automotive. Outside of these two categories, it appears technology leads in overall discretionary spending and ranks essential in the life of today's modern student.
When it comes to "tech" purchasing decisions, it is college students who make the final call. A weighty 70% of college students state that they are the key decision makers when purchasing their cell phones, while 63% make the ultimate choice for their digital camera and 60% do so when deciding on their choice of computer.
Powerful Connections
Advancing technologies and new digital offerings continue to revolutionize the modern campus. Only two years ago, just under one-third of college campuses offered blanket "wireless" coverage. Today, that figure has doubled, with 60% of college campuses meeting the demands of today's "totally connected" co-ed[1].
Students' increasing mobility and need for 24-7 connection is confirmed by rapid year-over-year increases in ownership of both laptops and MP3 players. For the first time since the College Explorer study's inception, desktop ownership slides below half of the 18-30 year old college student population (46%), while laptops are now the preferred model on campus, with three-quarters (75%) of students reporting ownership.
In four years, the MP3 player has more than doubled to a total of 74% ownership. Digital camera ownership also jumped to almost three-quarters (74%) -- a 28% increase since 2006 and a clear reflection of the daily documentation taking place on social networking sites and blogs, that now seems a prerequisite to campus life.
Input from friends and family continues to be a strong influence on students' decision-making with respect to brands, products and services, with 62% of students placing particular importance on word of mouth from friends. Nearly half (44%) trust the advice of family and 40% are influenced by seeing others using products.
Recommended Daily Intake
For the first time, the study delved into exactly how much time multi-tasking students were engaging with their preferred media on a daily basis, for any purpose. When all platforms were totaled, the study found that students are spending a whopping 12 hours daily, on average, engaged with some type of media. The majority of that time -- 9.5 hours -- is spent with their "tech" gadgets, including computers, mobile devices, MP3 players, and gaming devices.
Markedly, students are now spending twice as much time on their computers as compared to television viewing. Students reported watching 2.5 hours of television daily, nearly equal to time spent on their cell phones or PDA's, while one-fifth of their day is spent on the computer.
One-quarter of today's college students are using their cell phone or PDA to play MP3's or games, with 20% using these devices to access the internet for a variety of activities. Such activities represent further evidence of this generation's converging screen behaviors.
Roll The Video, Please
Students' increasing interest in online video has been clearly shown by this year's study, which shows a rise in online viewing habits for TV shows, user generated videos and webisodic programming as compared to the previous year. Impressively, college students are also demonstrating their wide influence as to who or what might be the next viral web sensation. 40% of students describe themselves as media distributors, by means of sharing video or blog content with their friends.
Among 18-24 year old students, one-third (33%) stated that they have increased their consumption of webisodes or user-generated videos over the past year. Additionally, college males are watching more webisodes than they did last year, as compared to their female counterparts.
Nearly one-third (30%) of 18-30 year olds report they frequently watch videos when visiting social networking sites.
Watching movies on computers appears to be nearing parity with television viewing. 61% of students who watch full movies do so on their computers, while 76% watch them on their television.
For those students who report using technology devices to shoot, send or receive video content, nearly 60% of college students report doing so on their computers, with 45% conducting this activity on their cell phone, Smartphone, or PDA.
Ad Value
While online habits shift and video content becomes more prevalent, there appears to be considerable acceptance of advertising among college students across the web, so long as such advertising is done on their terms.
While pop-up ads or banners are not widely accepted by this group, more than half of college students (53%) state they are not avoiding webisodes or pre-roll ads while online. As well, for this budget-conscious and entertainment hungry group of consumers, a substantial 68% don't avoid online promotions. In fact, one in five students stated that advertisements in the form of online promotions were most useful to them.
"Mobility and media convergence appears to be the required curriculum on the quad," stated Andy Sawyer, SVP, Media Services for Alloy Media + Marketing. "Perpetual advancements in technology have clearly given students increasing control and the ease with which to socialize, communicate and be entertained on demand."
"This year's study further illustrates the extent to which rapidly advancing technology is shifting the campus dynamic," noted Mr. Sawyer, "and offers marketers key insights for successfully participating in modern collegiate life."
Survey Methodology
The 2009 Alloy College Explorer study was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Alloy Media + Marketing between April 1 and April 27, 2009 among 1,521 U.S. 18-34 year old college students (2-year, 4-year and graduate students, including 1,433 18-30 year old college students). Results were weighted as needed for age, sex, race/ethnicity, region and school status (full-time, part-time, 4-yr., 2-yr.). Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.
All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the U.S. 18-34 year old college students. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to be invited to participate in the Harris Interactive online research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
About Alloy Media + Marketing
Alloy Media + Marketing (AM+M) (Nasdaq:ALOY) is one of the country's largest providers of media and marketing programs reaching targeted consumer segments. Alloy manages a diverse array of assets and services in interactive, display, direct mail, content production and educational programming. Alloy works with over 1,500 companies including half of the Fortune 200. For further information regarding Alloy, please visit our corporate website at www.alloymarketing.com.
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About Harris Interactive(R)
Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research, powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.
[1] The Campus Computing Survey, 2008