Media habits are changing rapidly in young adults, making ads more difficult to target
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Ted Sarandos, Netflix Inc.’s chief content officer, says Squid Games could be the biggest show … [+]
© 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP
Media habits have fundamentally changed due to streaming content and other digital media platforms, especially among younger age groups. As the media continues to fragment, developing a successful strategy becomes a more challenging task every year.
Despite the fragmentation and the challenge of reaching young adults, many advertisers continue to market this audience because young adults as consumers have a higher lifetime value than older audiences. Hence, marketers continue to pay a premium ad price to reach them. although such new and more targeted opportunities as addressable advertising and networked television become available.
In September, Attest published its third annual US Media Consumption Report, which highlighted a number of notable changes in media use by digital platforms. For the Attest report, which also provided media consumption for older age groups, young adults (also known as “Generation Z” as adults between 18 and 24 years of age) were defined. The survey polled 2,000 respondents US consumers of working age (18 to 65) and was conducted in August 2021.
Social media: Social media is more popular with younger adults than older adults. The Attest study found that, on average, 59% of this age group spend more than 3 hours on social media every day. TikTok is now the second most popular social media platform, just behind YouTube. Attest found, 60% of young adults visit TikTok daily (YouTube is 61%). In just over five years since its inception, TikTok has hit one billion monthly active users worldwide. As of January 2018, TikTok had 54 million monthly active users worldwide. TikTok’s popularity grew significantly during the pandemic, with the app being downloaded 315 million times in the first quarter of 2020.
Both Instagram (56%) and Snapchat (52%) remain more popular with young adults than older people. The same cannot be said of Facebook, only 28% of young adults visit Facebook on a daily basis, the lowest of any age group. For example, 57% of “Baby Boomers” (57 to 65 years old) and 68% of “Generation X” (41 to 56 years old) access Facebook every day.
To play: Another popular online activity is gambling. According to the report, on average, a large majority (82%) of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 play games every day, with 21% responding by playing for 1-2 hours every day. A popular source for games is Twitch owned by Amazon. 26% of young adults say they access the live streaming service at least once a week. In addition, gaming sites like Fortnite have expanded into other forms of entertainment like concerts and videos. With the popularity of games and TikTok, eMarketer predicts that total adult time spent on cellphones has increased from 2 hours and 25 minutes in 2018 to 3 hours and 19 minutes this year.
Video: Compared to older adults between the ages of 18 and 24, 44% of young adults are more likely to stream video content for more than 3 hours per day. (Millennials between the ages of 25 and 40 are just in second place at 43%.) When broken down by time, 29% said they stream for 1-2 hours a day and 29% for 3-4 hours a day. Another 15% watch streaming content for at least 5 hours a day.
Netflix NFLX is by far the most popular video streaming platform among young adults, with 86% of 18- to 24-year-olds using the service (compared to 69% for overall adults). In second place in the use of Generation Z is Disney + with 56%. (For older populations, Amazon Prime Video ranks second.) Drama and comedy are the two most-viewed program types among young adults, well ahead of reality shows.
Audio: Generation Z is more likely to stream music than older age groups. On an average day, 60% of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 listen to music online and 18% say they listen to it several times a week. Spotify is the most widely used streaming audio provider at 64%, followed by YouTube Music at 35%. Apple Music is 33% more popular with young adults than older adults. 37% of adults between 18 and 24 years old say they listen to podcasts at least once a week, a number that is second only to millennials at 45%.
In addition, 11% said they listened to podcasts every day, and 32% said they had never heard a podcast. In addition, 22% visit news websites, 17% read at least one magazine a week (47% never read it), and 16% read a printed newspaper.
In addition, even before streaming, social media, and gaming, young adults were lighter users of traditional media. The survey found that 20% of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 watch linear television for 1-2 hours a day, while 29% do not watch live TV. When it comes to radio, 24% state that they listen to the radio several times a week and 19% every day.
Therefore, adults between the ages of 18 and 24 are digital natives and early adopters of new media opportunities. Younger adults are also fluent in their media consumption, as evidenced by the popularity of TikTok and streaming videos, while Facebook and linear television are a thing of the past for many.
Anjali Midha, founder and CEO of Diesel Labs, a predictive media analytics company, points out how difficult it is to hit the pulse of Generation Z in today’s fragmented media landscape. She cites the popularity of Squid Game, a South Korean fictional drama on Netflix. “The composition of the audience could explain Squid Game’s rapid rise to the top,” said Midha. “Our analysis shows that 68% of interested Squid Game viewers are under 24 years of age, a number much higher than Black Mirror (49% under 24) and Parasite (34% under 24). It’s clear that a large, younger cohort is generating much of the buzz, thanks in part to the avalanche of TikTok memes and Roblox activations focused on the games that appear on the show. both platforms have a strong younger user base. Interestingly, Squid Game audiences are also overindicating gaming engagement (+ 20%) over the average audience, which is very timely given the recent news on Netflix exploring the new content format. ”Netflix’s Ted Sarandos admits that Squid Game released on Jan.
Outside of Netflix, Diesel Labs found that Squid Game audiences had a strong affinity with other younger and female titles like Genera + ion and Gossip Girl on HBO Max and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Black Is King, and High School Musical: The Musical: The. had series on Disney +.
According to a study by Futuri, adults between 18 and 24 spend an average of $ 37 per month on video and audio subscriptions, which are often ad-free or with limited ad options. Therefore, new targeting options such as addressable advertising, connected TV and social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok have emerged.
Zach Rosenberg, Founder, Zach Rosenberg Consulting, Inc. notes, “This population is increasingly media savvy. Not only are they aware of traditional advertising tactics, but they are critical. Brands need to invest more resources in less conventional marketing and branding channels like customer service and social impact to build trust in ways that matter to that audience. “Diesel Labs’ Midha adds,” The pressure to innovate on brands and agencies rolled into one constantly changing environment is immense. “
