Part
01
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Part
01
Generational Media Consumption Patterns
There is a decline on TV consumption for both millennials and Generation X. However, it is still a viable medium for media consumption for Generation X. Many millennials are inclining towards streaming services compared to Generation X. Additionally, Generation X and millennials have quite similar media consumption when it comes to websites and apps media consumption.
Millennials and Generation X Media Consumption
Television
- Thirty-six percent of Generation X and 25% of millennials are power streamers, where most of them watch movies on TV screens.
- Only 18% of Generation X and 9% of millennials are linear TV consumers, in where they rely most of their media consumption on mainstream TV. Sixty percent of these linear TV consumers rely primarily on TV news programs for news.
- Business Insider stated that 89% of millennials watch their television programs on Netflix than on live television. This is the same for Generation X. Additionally, the report stated that 44% of millennials watch television for one to two hours a day, while 38% claim that they watch three to five hours a day. Forty-two percent of Generation X claim that they watch television for one to two hours a day, and 40% claim that they watch three to five hours a day.
Streaming
- Sixty-four percent of the Generation X household has a streaming subscription, compared to 68% of millennial households with a streaming subscription.
- Thirty-six percent of Generation X and 25% of millennials are power streamers, where 57% of the overall population decided to have paid streaming services to avoid advertisements.
- In 2017, Statista revealed that 72% of millennials who have an online video or music subscription has an active Netflix subscription. There is a slight increase for Generation X, as 73% have a Netflix subscription.
Apps
- Sixty-six percent of the time spent on mobile phones by Generation X is dedicated for visiting social media apps. Additionally, this generation prefers Facebook over YouTube, this is why Facebook has 10% more Generation X users than YouTube.
- Millennials use more social networking apps (80%), followed by music streaming apps (67%), games (66%), communication (60%), weather (59%), navigation/search (56%), and entertainment (55%).
- Additionally, one-app millennials rely on Amazon (35%), Gmail (30%), and Facebook (29%).
Websites
- Millennial Marketing listed YouTube, Spotify, BuzzFeed, Elite Daily, and Amazon to be the top websites visited by millennials.
- Moreover, the report stated that 18-to-34-year-olds (a mix of Generation Z and millennials) take up about 50% of the overall YouTube population.
- Eight out of ten millennials also visit Spotify for internet radio.
- BuzzFeed is considered to be the traditional television for millennials.
- Millennials prefer to visit Facebook (33%) more than YouTube (19%). This is the same for Generation X (29% visit Facebook while only 16% visit YouTube).
- Thirty-three percent of Millennials visit Facebook, while 29% of Generation X visit the site. (Taken from 612 frequent website users)
- Millennials claim that the best user-experience design is split between the Facebook website (18%) and the Amazon website (17%), while Generation X claim that the Amazon website has slightly better user-experience design (21%) compared to the Facebook website (17%).
Printed Media
- A report from Business Insider reported that in 2013 those aged between 16-34 (mix of Generation Z and millennials) do not miss newspapers and magazines. While 2% from those aged 35-44 (mix of Generation X and millennials) miss newspapers and magazines.
- In 2015, Statista reported a decline in the usage of the newspaper for millennials.
- Additionally, in 2017, Statista reported that 26% of respondents who were aged 18 to 29 years old read print magazines once a month.
- In 2018, the Pew Research Center found that those only 10% aged 18-49 (mix of generation Z, millennials, and generation X) use print newspapers for their daily news.
- In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that those aged 18-29 (mix of generation Z and millennials) prefer reading printed books (74%) over reading an e-book (34%) and listening audiobooks (23%). Those aged 30-49 (mix of millennials and generation X) still prefer reading printed books (65%) over reading an e-book (24%) and listening to audiobooks (27%).
Research Strategy
The research team started the search by looking for pre-compiled information about the media consumption of both millennials and Generation X. We visited various media and market sites such as Deloitte, Forbes, Bloomberg, and others, as these sites usually publish detailed information and some statistical analysis about media consumption. During the search, we were able to find essential information about generational TV and streaming consumption from Deloitte, but the information was limited towards the TV and streaming medium, so we decided to delve further.
The team decided to bifurcate the search into the different mediums of media, and this includes apps, websites, television, print, and streaming media. As we already have the generational consumption of TV and streaming media from the Deloitte report, we decided to concentrate on the generational consumption of apps, television, and print. During the search, we were able to find information about application consumption by generation from the Mobile Marketer. We then proceeded our search to website media consumption.
The team found an article from Millennial Marketing that detailed the most visited websites by millennials. Furthermore, the team found a contrast of the websites visited by millennials and generation X from Visual Objects.
We then decided to shift our focus on print media such as books, newspapers, magazines, and others. Pew Research had statistics that bifurcated the media consumption for news of TV, news website, print newspaper, and social media by age. Additionally, Business Insider reported that Generation X and Millennials do not miss newspapers or magazines at all. Statista also provided newspaper consumption by age in 2015. Statista also provided magazine consumption by age in 2017, but the report is locked behind a paywall. Pew Research also provided printed book consumption by age and comparing the numbers to audiobooks. After the search, we then compiled the necessary information and wrote the research brief.