Habbo, the largest virtual world for teenagers worldwide, today unveiled the results of its second Global Habbo Youth Survey. Examining the interests, values, attitudes, online habits of a global audience, the survey reveals teens' current media usage, consumption behavior and brand preferences in order to better understand what compels youth around the world.
For the study, Habbo surveyed 58,486 teens between the ages 11 and 18 from 31 countries and identified five clearly defined behavioral segments amongst respondents. With each group representing approximately one-fifth of the total teens surveyed, the five groups were categorized and described as the following:
- Achievers: Ambitious, strong-minded and materialistic. They value material success and while they have many friends, they do not consider other people's feelings as much as other groups.
- Rebels: Value gathering a lot of experiences in life and enjoy a fast-paced lifestyle. Like Achievers, they want to become "rich and famous," but are not willing to compromise on having fun in order to achieve this goal.
- Traditionals: Value having an ordinary life and see themselves as honest, polite and obedient. They are keen to help others but are less ambitious and pleasure-seeking compared to other segments.
- Creatives: Share many of the same positive traits as Traditionals, but with a focus on creativity. They place value in getting a good education and being influential in life, but they are also active, social and have an interest in traveling.
- Loners: More introverted and less likely than other segments to identify with any specific personality traits. They rarely see themselves as active or self-assured, but are more open-minded in their attitudes compared to Traditionals or Achievers.
A major focus of the survey was how teens communicate today. Nearly 76 percent of teens globally use the Internet to instant message friends, and, overall instant messaging was the most popular communication tool in most countries. Despite 72 percent of teen respondents' saying they have active email accounts, results showed it is no longer a primary means of communication with peers. The survey revealed that email is generally reserved by teens more for non-personal needs such as school or work, or correspondence with family members.
"According to the Global Habbo Youth Survey, the most popular global Web sites amongst teens are YouTube and MySpace," said Emmi Kuusikko, director of user and market insight for Sulake, Habbo's parent company. "Of those surveyed, 50 percent responded that they forward humorous links and videos to their friends, while 30 percent regularly upload content, confirming the notion that teenagers have an active online presence. We have also found that localization is important for teens communicating online, which is reflected by our own success in targeting local markets across the world."
In the U.S., the most popular web sites amongst respondents were MySpace and YouTube, followed by AddictingGames, RuneScape and Facebook.
The survey showed that brand familiarity clearly affects teens' choices as consumers, with 74 percent saying that familiar brands guide their purchasing decisions. Reinforcing the brand familiarity findings, global well-known brands, such as McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Nokia ranked high for both boys and girls. Gender differences are more visible for example in clothing brands. According to the results, boys favor Nike, Adidas and Billabong as their top clothing brands, where as girls preferred Hennes and Mauritz, Nike and Roxy.
The 2008 Global Habbo Youth Survey report is available to purchase as a 250-page hardcopy book. For inquiries and orders, please contact: marketinsight @ sulake.com
About the research
The 2008 Global Youth Survey research was conducted within the virtual world of Habbo, and the total number of respondents (after data cleaning) was 58,486. Conducted between October and November 2007, the survey included 31 countries and statistical weighting was employed to give all participating countries an equal weight in the global results. The results of the research are available on request.
About Habbo:
Habbo is a richly colorful, multi-dimensional virtual community and game environment for teens. Users join by creating a fully customized online character called a Habbo. From there, they can explore many public hang-outs, play a variety of games, connect with friends, decorate their own rooms, and have fun through creativity and self expression. Currently there are Habbo communities in 32 countries on six continents. To date, over 94 million Habbo characters have been created and 9.5 million unique users worldwide visit Habbo each month (source: Google Analytics).
About Sulake:
Sulake is an online entertainment company focused on virtual worlds and social networking. Sulake's main product is Habbo, one of the world's fastest growing virtual worlds and online communities for teenagers. There are localized Habbo communities in 32 countries on six continents. To date over 94 million Habbo characters have been created and 9.5 million unique users worldwide visit Habbo each month (source: Google Analytics). Habbo brand is being extended to include mobile games and content as well as real-life products. Sulake was established in 2000 and it has almost doubled its annual revenues each year. The main shareholders in Sulake include Taivas Group, Elisa Group, 3i Group plc, and Balderton Capital followed by Movida Group (in Japan), the company's founders Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrölä, Sulake's CEO Timo Soininen and other personnel. Sulake has offices in 15 countries. Headquarters is situated in Helsinki, Finland. Currently the company has 300 employees worldwide.
www.sulake.com
www.habbo.com