Why it matters
While age isn’t the only factor determining consumer behaviour, WARC’s analysis indicates that the year somebody was born remains a useful indicator of their channel and platform preferences.
Find out more in WARC’s Global Ad Trends: Finding Gen Z (download a sample here)
What’s going on
- Social media, of course, dominates. Yet, Gen Z is demonstrating that its attention is finite; even as new platforms emerge, global social usage is expected to dip slightly this year – getting people’s attention is going to become a bigger challenge for platforms.
- TikTok is critical. Nearly 40% of TikTok’s advertising audience is aged between 18 and 24, totalling 421.1 million (source: Kepios). With TikTok users spending an average of 95 minutes per day with the app (source: Sensor Tower).
- New media, especially audio, opportunities drive Gen-Z consumption. Music and podcast streaming are critical here, with 16-24s consuming more audio content per day than all forms of premium video combined.
- It is not the biggest consumer of media, overall. It might have identified the most extremely online generation, but in terms of total media consumption they lag behind 25-34s (typically thought of as millennials), who tend to consume greater quantities of both linear and streaming TV.
Key quote
“Gen Z has been uniquely impacted by technological innovations,” explains Alex Brownsell, WARC Media’s Head of Content.
“It was the first audience to navigate childhood and adolescence with social media; it has been exposed to audio streaming and video on-demand services from a young age.”
Source: WARC
