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

More Americans are going cashless

Four in four-in-ten Americans (41%) report that none of their purchases in a typical week are paid for using cash, according to Pew Research Center – that’s up from 29% in 2018 and 24% in 2015.

Why it matters 

The pandemic will have given a boost to this behavior, as more people shopped online and as in-person cashless payments reduced the risk of disease transmission. There’s undoubtedly a convenience factor that many people will have welcomed, but not everyone has access to the bank accounts and tech that enable such payments (and there’s always the possibility that the tech can fail). 

From a marketing perspective, there’s a potential wealth of data that can be gleaned from cashless payment transactions but that in turn raises many questions about consumer privacy and how banks and credit card companies use that personal information.

 Takeaways

• Six-in-ten adults (58%) say they try to make sure they always have cash on hand, while 42% say they do not really worry much about whether they have cash with them since there are other ways to pay for things (this is especially the case for those under the age of 50). 
• 26% of Black adults and 21% of Hispanic adults say that all or almost all of their purchases in a typical week are paid for using cash, compared with 12% of White adults who say the same.
• Lower income consumers are far more likely to be still using cash: three in ten with household income below $30,000 a year use cash for all or almost all of their purchases in a typical week, compared to just 6% for those living in households earning $50,000 or more a year.

Sourced from Pew Research Center, ACLU

OOH grapples with declining footfall and shifting regional behaviours

Latest figures show UK retail footfall declined again in September and remains down on pre-pandemic figures, but a separate behavioural study points to some interesting regional differences for marketers targeting outdoor audiences.

Why it matters

Declining footfall is of concern not just to retailers ahead of the important Christmas trading period but also to OOH advertisers, who need to be alert to continued shifts in consumer behaviour and how that affects media planning.

The retail data

• Latest data from tracking firm Springboard, reported in Retail Week, finds that overall footfall remained 12.6% below pre-pandemic levels in September, although retail parks (-4.3%) fared better than high streets (-14.4%) or shopping centres (-16.7%).
• Springboard said that half of all employees continue to work at home for at least part of the working week; weekday high street footfall was -17.4% versus 2019, compared with -6.9% on the weekends.

The OOH angle

• Meanwhile, research from OOH agency Talon has found that London saw a quicker return in city centre impressions to pre-pandemic levels, while in Manchester residential areas have remained stronger post pandemic.
• Trendsetting London neighbourhoods such as Hackney, Dalston, Shoreditch and Peckham saw a 28% increase in audience visits pre- to post pandemic.
• Among the ‘convenience-seeking’ audience, however, there was a marked decline in city centre visits between 2020 and 2022: -78% in Manchester and -42% in London, indicating a sustained shift in this audience’s behaviour.
  

Sourced from Retail Week, Talon