`Advertisers are literally, and I'm not exaggerating, crying out for this audience." That's what Maria Mahon, the chief executive of Spin FM, said at the recent hearings for the youth-radio licence.
She was talking about the station's whole 15-to-34-year-old target market, but it was clear from the presentation that a station which particularly set out to attract the younger end of this market - including teenagers - would be especially welcome.
That's a pretty new development in Ireland. When Dublin first got commercial radio a decade ago, what's now called FM104 had a problem: its listeners were too young compared to 98FM - and "young" equalled "unattractive to advertisers". Nowadays the youth of its listenership is one of FM104's proud boasts, and the station will fight hard to keep its young listeners when Spin FM goes on-air.
Why? You won't be surprised to hear the short answer: money. In 1999, young Irish people have money to spend - not as much as older people (who also have a lot more than they used to), but enough to make it worthwhile to target them with ads for products specifically tailored to their tastes and lifestyles.
And, happily for the advertisers, teenagers tend to like advertising. According to research, they're a bit more receptive to its humour and creativity and a bit less cynical about its content than adults are.
Advertisers are so keen on this audience that, earlier this year, the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland commissioned a massive survey on teenagers' behaviour, attitudes and product preferences.
A company called Behaviour & Attitudes did face-to-face interviews with 1,200 12-to-18-year-olds all around the State, and discovered that, in general, you like your parents, you don't believe in Hell, you enjoy Robbie Williams and Friends and you prefer Nike to Adidas.
Best of all, the survey found, "hanging around shopping malls is one of the most popular activities for teenagers".
Marketing people love categories, and the survey reckons teenagers can be divided, more or less evenly, into five categories: Jocks, Cerebrals, Net Surfers, Party Animals, Withdrawn. Do you know who you are?
A quarter of the young people surveyed - and remember, they were as young as 12 - had some income from work. The proportion grows to more than half among 17- and 18-year-old males. The typical disposable income across the whole group was nearly £20 per week.
"The typical teenager spends approximately £460 per annum on clothing and footwear," the survey finds. "Among 17- and 18-year-old males (the heaviest spenders) this rises to in excess of £650 per annum."
So teenagers in general have some money to spend, and as they get older they tend to have a little more. That's one reason the accompanying bar charts from the Youthscape report make such interesting reading.
Look closely at the charts: while television viewing clearly declines as you enter your late-teen years, radio listening increases. In fact, the young women of 17 and 18 who were surveyed listen to the radio only 20 minutes less every day than they watch television.
About one in five teenagers listen regularly to the controversial night-time phone-in programmes, which are concentrated in the Dublin-area radio stations. Girls are a bit more likely than boys to listen to these shows.
So what sort of advertising will be aimed at you? If you already watch or listen to teen-oriented programmes, or read teen-oriented magazines, you'll have some idea. The product choice the survey asked about offer more clues: they didn't want to know what car you like or which kitchen appliances you prefer. (Leave those questions for your Mam and Dad.)
Nope, the main products and services investigated in terms of teen brand preferences were soft drinks, fast-food outlets, clothing, footwear, hair care, shampoo, deodorants, make-up and perfume/after-shave. Your appetites and your vanity are what advertisers are interested in. (A surprising detail from the report suggests that Irish teenage males tend to go to the hairdresser more than teenage females, particularly in the earlier teen years.)
Radio doesn't have you sewn up by any means. You read a lot, for example - maybe while you're listening to the radio. Teens spend more time reading magazines than watching videos, and nearly as much time reading books as using PCs. An advertiser looking for your attention will keep this in mind.
On television, advertising scheduled during Friends, The Simpsons, South Park, etc will get your attention; even Rugrats is popular among teens.
Nonetheless, a Dublin radio station will be able to offer advertising that specifically targets the State's most well-off teenagers, at rates far cheaper than advertising on television, and only a fraction of the cost of advertising on 2FM. It will even be cheaper than advertising on FM104: Spin FM says it will charge £60 per 30-second daytime slot, as compared to £95 at FM104.
