Study: Teen, youth make up billion peso market

COMPANIES that are able to understand and connect with Filipino teens and young adults are the most successful top-of-mind brands for these high-value segments, key findings of “The TRU Study: 2012 Philippines Edition” revealed.

This year, global research organization TRU (Teens Research Unlimited), a company under TNS, the global leader in custom market research, expands its research to include key insights and information on young Filipino adults in their early twenties.

The TRU Study 2012 results show that the over 15 million Filipino teens and approximately 9 million young adults in their early twenties, who represent 16 percent and 9 percent of the total population, respectively, continue to be an extremely potent market. Filipino teens’ average weekly spending is now estimated at P327, amounting to a total annual value of P268.8 billion, roughly 18 percent higher from last year’s P278 average spending per week or P224 billion annually. On the other hand, the young adult segment, which is just about half of the teen population, is estimated to have a P322 billion annual spending capacity.

The study is a valuable resource for companies to understand the behaviors, preferences and purchasing habits of teens, ensuring that their strategies and marketing campaigns communicate to and are relevant to their target audience.

The results of the TRU Study 2012’s face-to-face interviews also revealed the top brands favored by 1,200 teens and twenty-somethings between the ages 12-24 across the Philippines. Bench still holds the No. 1 spot in teens’ list of favorite brands, followed by Jollibee, Nike, Jag Jeans, Adidas, Natasha, Nokia, Coke, Avon and Tribal.

For Filipino young adults in the early-twenties, Jag takes the number one spot, with Bench coming in second. Lee (No. 5) and Levi’s (No. 8) also grab a spot in the Top 10 brands for young adults, which include Jollibee, Nokia, Adidas, Nike, Natasha and Avon.

More teens online
The TRU Study 2012 also revealed that Filipino teens are more immersed in the digital universe this year with more than half of respondents (58 percent) going online compared to just 45 percent in 2011. Most of the respondents use the Internet primarily as a means to connect and enable relationships, making social networking sites more popular than ever.

Indications of the “physical” world becoming a thing of the past are therefore more evident. Results show that listening to CDs is significantly down (30 percent in 2012 as compared to 37 percent in 2011) while streaming music is up (25 percent in 2012 versus 9 percent in 2011). Other activities that show a decline are attending school (68 percent from 73 percent), reading books for pleasure (57 percent from 67 percent) and playing videogame consoles (16 percent from 21 percent). But three key activities remain true for Filipino teens—they watch TV (96 percent), hang out with friends (85 percent) and play sports (76 percent).

The TRU Study: 2012 Philippines Edition highlights that now is the time to connect with the Filipino youth as they begin to develop buying habits and build brand loyalties,” added Abegail Barcelona, TNS Philippines Associate Research Director who is the local point person for TRU.

“The best way to reach this valuable market segment is through TV and Online channels,” she said.

Pinoy youth socially aware

Despite the increase of online usage and the decline of “physical world activities,” Filipino teens still care about what is happening around them. Key social concerns are crime (52 percent, child abuse (40 percent), drug abuse (37 percent), poverty (37 percent) and climate change (34 percent). Meanwhile young adults consider crime, poverty and drug abuse as their top three social concerns.

The study also found that teens still have strong priorities in terms of values in life. A significant number of Filipino teens say they really like doing things with their families (44 percent) and consider religion/faith as one of the most important parts of their lives (43 percent). They also value college education with 40 percent believing that it is difficult to get ahead in life without it.

Meanwhile, for young adults, religion (52 percent) takes priority over family (45 percent), presumably because the young adults rely on themselves and faith as they pursue careers away from home.