Ratings for the Olympics have been huge thus far, but there’s one group that may not be buying in to the excitement: teenagers. According to a new study by the Harris Interactive Youth Center of Excellence, only 46 percent of teens ages 13-18 expressed an interest in the Games, and just 27 percent said they are very or extremely interested. That’s 19 percent less than the general population, according to a recent Scarborough Research poll. Interest among tweens is even lower, at 28 percent. That might seem surprising, considering a number of the Olympics’ top competitors, including gymnasts Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, are teenagers themselves, and companies like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, which market heavily toward teens, are official sponsors of the Games. The study also indicates that, contrary to popular belief, the Games won’t necessarily be family viewing, with many teens and tweens not planning to watch them with their parents. Peter Shafer, vice president of the Harris center, talks to Media Life about why teens are tuning out, which sports they actually like, and how media buyers and planners can still target them.

 
What did you find most interesting or most surprising about this study?
 
There were a couple of things. One was that 40 percent really had no interest in watching at all. And that seems rather high for such a worldwide event.

The fact that kids 8-12 had such a high percentage who said they wouldn’t watch -- the thing that surprised us is does this mean Olympics skew older? You’d think parents would have some influence on what kids are watching, so it seems a bit strange.
 
Also, only 5 percent of kids said they’d be buying anything Olympics-related. One of the things in merchandising is to get those logos out there, but it sounds like kids won’t be buying them, which is a bit surprising as well considering the hype.
 

Why are teens relatively disinterested in the Games?
 
Well, I think there are a couple of factors. There is so much more going on in their lives now than in past years, and that’s pulling them in different directions. School starts next week in some places, and there are so many other media options now.
 
The second thing is, I think what you’re seeing is a lack of engagement among kids in the Games themselves. The X Games ratings were up, and especially in the 12-17 age group, because I think they relate to biking and skateboarding, of course. But I don’t think there’s a great connection with Olympic sports.
 
Also, they’ve really been promoting swimmers Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff as the stars, but you haven’t really heard a lot about the other sports outside of maybe USA basketball.
 

Do these findings differ compared to past Olympics? That is, is interest lower in these Games than in previous Games?
 
This is actually the first time we’ve done this with kids. But we did ask a separate set of questions back in 2004 for Athens, and it hasn’t significantly dropped off. It’s about consistent with that year.
 

Why are older teen boys more interested in the Games than younger teens?
 
They’re more sports-oriented in general, they follow sports much more than other groups. And because they’re involved in school athletics at a higher rate they tend to gravitate toward competition more.

And they tend to follow swimming, basketball and track and field.
 

Which events are teens most interested in and why?
 
Track and field for boys is No. 1, basketball No. 2 and swimming No. 3.
 
For girls, it’s gymnastics No. 1, swimming No. 2 and diving No.3. And then track and field is fourth.
 
I think the girls can relate a bit more to gymnastics than boys and they certainly have a different level of engagement with the sport. The other thing is with gymnastics and swimming and diving, they’re all individual sports, and if you look at the boys, they seem to be more into team sports.
 

There seems to be a gender gap for which events they're most interested in. Is this the same for older teens, younger teens and tweens as well?
 
We don’t break out tweens into male or female, but the gender gap between boys and girls 16-18 is pretty significant, and I’d say there’s somewhere between 11-17 point difference in how they consume and follow the Games.
 
Again, I could speculate but I’m not sure what the reasons are. But it’s interesting the girls seem to follow more individual sports while boys seem to be more attracted to teams sports.
 

How can marketers hoping to connect with teens during the Olympics accomplish this if they're not all that engaged?
 
I think the key for that is, marketing to teens requires you to be across a number of different platforms, with TV a part but not all of it. What we’ve noticed with kids is they’re multitasking. They consume the content, and I think as they connect with the brand, it’s really around how those brands come across in those platforms. It’s easy for kids to consume what is there.
 
For example, if you go to ESPN’s Olympics web site, there’s about three clicks to get there from the home page. Kids are tolerant of that but they’d like more smoothness.
 
The second thing is that the marketers have done a good job this year of making messages relevant to youth, but I think the key is that the messages they’re using reinforce what kids think and do.
 
We’ve found just over the past couple years that teens are very sophisticated in creating their own personal brand. So they link themselves with things that reinforce that brand with family and friends. So anything marketers do with the Olympics will be consumed by teens as if that helps their personal brand.
 

What can media buyers and planners learn from this study?
 
I think the big thing for the media planners is hopefully that they understand that kids are consuming things very differently than they have in the past. Although they might not be totally focused on the Games, they’re still paying attention, and it’s just a recognition that they’re consuming it different and from different platforms.
 
Also, parents probably have less influence of what’s being watched in terms of the Games, so the message is that it’s not as easy as “the family is watching together.”

It’s less of a family event than it has been in the past.
 
The good news for planners and buyers is that kids actually like advertising and they’ll accept and consume it because often times they view it as content. They know they’re being sold to but they feel like they’re learning about something.
 
The last thing is that kids will pull from various sources all at one time about the same topic. If it’s swimming, they’ll watch it on TV, they’ll look online, they’ll text friends about it, etc. If the marketers’ messages across those platforms aren’t consistent, the kids are probably less tolerant about hearing more info about that brand.