While we at YMC most often focus on engaging with the high school to post-college set — those often called Generation Y — we’re always looking for insights about the generation behind them, the so-called Gen-Z-ers. According to demographers (and the legions of youth culture bloggers), Gen Z covers those born between roughly 1992 and 2010. If you want a (very brief) but insightful look into what this up-and-coming generation of consumers think about television, check out this video from Dave Knox at Hard Knox Life. In about 45 seconds it demonstrates that TV’s pop-culture reign may not be indefinite…
Many hearty thanks are owed to Dave Knox of Hard Knox Life for compiling a genuinely must-read post. Using reams of data taken from the Nielsen Global Online Media Landscape, Dave paints an empirical picture of the future of online media. If you’re in the interactive marketing space like YMC is, it’s full of some pretty interesting numbers. The post — and the Nielsen Report — are certainly worth reading in their entirely. But here are the key take-aways as I see them: marketers need to ready themselves for integrating mobile, digital and physical media. In this brave-new-world, it’s going to take all three, working in tandem.
Digital Content / Online Video are among the fastest growing areas of the Online Media Landscape:
The number of American users frequenting online video destinations has climbed 339 percent since 2003.
Time spent on video sites has shot up almost 2,000 percent over the same period.
In the last year alone, unique viewers of online video grew 10 percent, the number of streams grew 41 percent, the streams per user grew 27 percent and the total minutes engaged with online video grew 71 percent.
One of the more interesting trends in online video is the increasing attraction to long form videos: the total minutes spent watching long-form (average of six-to-eight minutes) is considerably more than minutes spent on short-form, and has grown about 20% in the first two months of 2009.
Mobile is finally taking its rightful place in the spotlight:
In the U.S. today, nearly 50 million mobile subscribers access the Web via their devices on a monthly basis. In the U.S., the mobile Internet audience grew 74% between February 2007 and February 2009.
While historically US has been behind in mobile adoption, the US is now one of the leading markets for mobile Internet penetration, with more than 18% of subscribers accessing mobile Web. This is the highest penetration of mobile subscribers among the markets Nielsen reports mobile Internet adoption.
Penetration of smartphones doubled between Q4 2007 and Q4 2008, from 7% of U.S. mobile subscribers to 14%. Penetration of faster 3G devices now stands at 37% of handsets in use in the U.S
iPhone users are unique in their use – a hint at the mobile media behaviors of users of next-gen phones to come. iPhone users, for instance, are more than four times as likely as a typical subscriber to use mobile Internet, six times as likely to use mobile applications and six times as likely to consume mobile video.
12 million U.S. mobile subscribers access their social networks over their phone. At the end of 2008, Facebook was just slightly ahead of MySpace in terms of unique mobile users: 7 million compared to 5.7 million. Mobile usage of social networking sites grew 260% during 2008 in the U.S.
Across the last few years, more than a few social commentators have leveled some pretty heavy charges at Gen-Y: they’re entitled, pop-culture obsessed, and technology dependent. They fill school assignments with emoticons, they look to Wikipedia as the end-all authority, and worst of all, they’re lazy.
The charge of laziness is one that Carol Phillips of Millennial Marketing recently took up. Citing a fascinating panel that examined Gen-Y in the workplace from two very different perspectives, she demonstrates that what is viewed by an older generation as laziness is often just a different, less traditional set of priorities.
Carol quotes one panelist who says: “I spent years as an associate, I hit all my metrics- but I didn’t want to become partner. It’s no secret that focusing on making as much money as possible ruined many of these older partners’ personal lives.” said Anthony Zana, he is now Corporate Counsel for Intergraph Corporation — where he left behind the billable hour. “I’ve seen too many successful partners on their 3rd and 4th marriage — and I did not want that to be me.”
Gen-Y is upfront about its interest in balance. For many millennials, having grown up among the prosperity of the last twenty-five years, there is an intimate understanding of what wealth makes possible — and, more importantly, what it doesn’t. Money isn’t just an abstract thing to be strived after; it’s familiar, and thus for many, demystified. With almost half of millennials exposed to divorce, there is also a generation-wide recognition that relationships and marriages can’t be taken for granted; just like a job, they’re things that require time, effort and long hours. This all amounts to the fact that Gen-Y is more aware than any previous generation that financial and professional success comes with costs. And in many cases, based on the experiences of those they grew up watching, the costs don’t feel justified. With that in mind, it seems to me that many Gen-Y-ers are looking for a career that compliments and supports their life — not consumes it. They’re interested in material possessions and the typical markers of success, of course, but they’re simply more aware that success in one deparment (be it professional or financial) doesn’t equate to happiness. In that regard, I have a tremendous respect for the ambitious Gen-Y-ers who strive to be successful across all fronts.
Carol Phillips comes to some similar conclusions in her post here. I highly recommend giving it a glance — if only so that you know where your Gen-Y-er is coming from.
I’m going to be writing on other misunderstandings that surround Gen-Y from time to time, and I’d certainly be interested in hearing some of your thoughts on the subject.
