Just in time for the start of the summer Olympics in Beijing, Harris Interactive (a Ypulse Research sponsor), sent over some fun research they did on what aspect of the games teens and tweens are most likely to tune into. Here's what they found:

- Just under half of 13 -18 year olds in the U.S. express an interest (46%) in the upcoming Olympics

- Only one quarter (27%) who say they are extremely or very interested (oof)

- Older teen boys (ages 16-18) show the greatest interest and represent the only age group where over half of youth are interested in the sporting event

- Teens overall are a larger audience for the Olympics than tweens (ages 8-12) who report only a 28% interest

- Overall, teens say they are most interested in following swimming (40%), gymnastics (38%) and track and field (33%)

- The top three Olympic sports that teen boys are interested in watching or reading about are track and field (35%), swimming (34%), and basketball (34%)

- Gymnastics, on the other hand, holds the attention of teen girls, with over half (56%) most interested in following this sport, followed by swimming (46%), and diving (35%)

- Six in ten (59%) say that they plan to watch Olympics sporting events on TV

- A far smaller number of teens are interested in reading about (22%) or watching (14%) Olympic sporting events online

- Almost two-thirds (62%) agree that the Olympics help to build a better and more peaceful world, four times the amount who disagree (16%) with this statement

- Teens who say they are interested in the Olympics are even more likely to agree that the Games are about more than merely medals and marketing (71%)

In other interesting TV-related research, Youth Trends lets us in on what young TV junkies are buzzing about when it comes to the fall TV season (hint: It's not the new "90210"): "Fringe" on FOX (J.J. Abrams), HBO's "True Blood," and Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" also on FOX. They're also excited about NBC's latest import "Kath and Kim" and ""My Own Worst Enemy" starring Christian Slater. For returning shows...it's all about "The Hills."

Posted by anastasia