Audience Trends

Different Generational Demographics: 

Streaming services have transformed the way people consume media practically overnight, accelerating the transformation of stories into content. All these trends have been exacerbated by Covid-19, which has kept people locked indoors and glued to their screens. Since the decline of the studio system in the 1950s to the introduction of home video technology, film studios have been navigating challenges and seizing opportunities for seemingly their entire history.

Gen Z - also called Zoomers - (born roughly between 1997-2012) seemingly defy the generations that came before them and demand new and novel experiences. Film and Tv is no exception. In a survey, Gen Z listed watching movies and TV as their 5th favourite form of in-home entertainment, the first generation with the category not listed in the top spot. Topping the list was video games, followed by listening to music, web surfing, and social media engagement.

• Will studios stop catering content to younger audiences?
• Will they rather invest more heavily in non-cinematic forms of entertainment?

While Gen Z may enjoy watching movies and TV at home less than older generations, they may be more likely to go see movies in the theaters. A 2019 study found that 75% of Zoomers reported seeing at least one movie a month, the highest percentage of any generation by nearly ten percent. After the pandemic 60% of Zoomers said they planned to return to theaters as soon as possible once the lockdowns had ended.

• Gen Z's proclivity for going to the movies may be a simple result of age, as young people have always flocked to theaters. It may also be a result of the generation's willingness to pay for "experiences" rather than just products
  
  

Part of the answer to compete for the Zoomer's attention is paying attention to video games. 87% of Gen Z play video games at least weekly, and over 25% list gaming as their favourite at-home entertainment option. Studios might be able to take advantage of this gaming mania by releasing video game themed films and TV shows - such as the recent surprise box office hit Free Guy ($331.5 million USD), starring Ryan Reynolds. Alternatively, they may experiment with ways to make their content more interactive, such as releasing games tied into movies or shows.

Around 60% of younger consumers watch less TV and film than older generations, instead, spending more time watching user-generated video content.

Each time an audience watches a scene, it provides different levels of opportunity for brands to connect with future consumers. E.g. in the Korean TV series Squid Game, all the actors were seen wearing white slip-on Vans shoes. In the following 6 months after the show's debut on Netflix on September 17, 2021, there were 232,600 search queries recorded in relation to these shoes. As a reslt, the series gave Vans a 145% increase in global searches for those exact white slip-on sneakers.

Since the number of Netflix subscribers went up during the height of the global Covid-19 pandemic, Netflix created an opportunity to see to its viewers by creating a Netflix shop where visitors can buy related merchandise of their favourite TV shows and films, and in June 2021, there were 60,500 queries for 'Netflix shop' when the platform launched.

The good news for media companies is that Gen Z spends a lot of time on screens. This generation watches an average of 7.2 hours of video a day, nearly more than the 6.3 hours spend by Gen X. This is nearly half of their waking hours captured by technology.

Despite them consuming content pretty much all day, they are not watching in the same way as previous generations. Their viewing changes throughout the day. The typical Gen Z starts the day scrolling through TikTok and Reels in the morning, switching to YouTube around lunchtime and turning to Netflix or Hulu in the evening.

Questions to consider: 

How do these trends discussed mirror or challenge your own consumption trends?

• Most of these trends show a fair representation of my personal media consumption. However, one of my top favourite form of in-home entertainment would probably be music, movies and TV, social media, with web surfing, and video games coming last.
• I also go to the movies fairly frequently, but this is also likely due to the whole experience of it.

How does this relate to media ecology and how companies are connecting with audiences now, due to technological changes?

• Media companies are taking advantage of the fact that younger generations are using media and technology significantly more frequently and catering their media products to specifically target these younger audiences, e.g. gaming.