Teen Power

Miranda Cosgrove of iCarly fame recently inked a new seven-figure contract with Nickelodeon to continue her popular show for an additional 26 episodes.  Such a large contract for an age-specific cable network show highlights the potential star power of young TV actors.

Cosgrove, as well as actors from Hannah Montana and High School Musical have proven to be successful beyond television in music, film and merchandise.   In the modern youth-oriented culture, today’s teen idol can be tomorrow’s multi-media superstar.  TV programs targeting the youth audience can be fertile ground to grow celebrity appeal and awareness among the fickle 13-17 age demographic.

Top 10 Teen TV Celebrities That You Don’t Know

To find the next generation of teen stars, we looked for actors who are liked by teens but are not yet on the radar of adults.  We used E-Score Celebrity and the Answer Center to generate a list of the top 10 TV actors who have the biggest difference in top-two box appeal among ages 13-17 compared to 18-54.

The list is topped by a trio of actors from ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager.  India Eisley, Daren Kagasoff and Megan Park have a difference in appeal of over 30 points comparing 13-17 to 18-54. Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl and Michelle Trachtenberg of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame and more recently Mercy earned appeal differences respectively of 31 and 25 points. The list also includes newcomer Dianna Agron from the wildly popular Glee with an appeal difference of 20 points.

E-Score Celebrity in MediaSYNC has the ability to look at appeal among specific age groups to reveal opportunities within age demographics.