As a marketer relating to and connecting with teens—Gen Z—can be confusing. As a step-mother of a teenage girl, I’m still none the wiser! However, I recognise that reaching this audience starts with understanding how and where they spend their time.
Smartphones – the most important technology
Times have changed – teens are all about staying connected, and smartphones make it easy, especially as the age at which children and teens get hold of their first device gets younger and younger.
Pester power is clearly out in force as a recent survey estimated that 73% of parents said their children had a smartphone by ages 11 to 13, and 31% said their children had one between ages 6 and 10.
Phones are the first sense of freedom a teen likely enjoys, so it’s no surprise that they rank the device as their favourite form of technology and a ‘must have’ in today’s digital culture.
Knowing nothing other than constant connectivity, teens are more clued up and are keen to embrace new gadgets or features. How many small children do you know who can operate an iPad or smartphone easier than turning the pages of a book?
How Much Time Is Spent Online?
According to a new report more than half of respondents ages 13 to 17 self-reported going online for less than 2 hours on a typical day, while roughly 3 in 10 reported spending 3 or more hours.
And contrary to what we think, children aren’t just spending time on Snapchat or scrolling through Instagram. A self-reported survey found that teenagers are looking to discover new talent or interest by exploring online. And, they stated that they are more connected to social issues and causes because of social media and the internet. A great example of this is the rise of Greta Thunberg and school-aged children’s focus on climate change.
Video Popularity
On whatever device they’re using, teens are big on video. Most teens are now digital viewers.
YouTube is the most popular digital activity. In 2019 a survey found that 92% of 13 to 17-year-olds are weekly viewers, and the average share of time spent on YouTube was 37%, beating Netflix at 35% for the first time since 2017.
YouTube offers a much wider scope of content that is of interest to teens, including music videos, video game streaming, celebrity streaming, and other user-generated content.
The Tik Tok Craze
Another popular digital activity is Tik Tok (formerly known as musical.ly). It’s a social media platform for creating, sharing and discovering short music videos, think Karaoke for the digital age. The app musical.ly was used by young people as an outlet to express themselves through singing, dancing, comedy, and lip-syncing.
Does TV Still Matter?
Amid all of this digital usage, it is easy to overlook traditional media like TV, but the time teens spend in front of the television isn’t negligible.
It’s estimated, by eMarketer.com, that 12 to 17-year-olds will average around 81 minutes per day watching TV in 2020 – this is 10 minutes fewer than that of 2019.
