Global Ad Trends: Gen Z spends more than two thirds of media time online

A new analysis by WARC has found that Generation Z (16-24-year olds) spends more time online than any other group with 67.7% of their media time spent online – though social is incredibly important, the new report identifies an extremely valuable opportunity in audio.

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.”

Sourced from WARC Media