Our approach to the GM blog has always been akin to how a university professor might compile the syllabus for a class entitled “Broadcasting for success in 2015 and beyond.” While staying up to speed on the latest news that affects the radio and TV industries is clearly important to us, our objective with this blog is more steered toward providing useful resources that can hopefully foster thought-provoking discussion as to ways that media groups can optimize their holdings. One such reading that recently caught our eye came from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/fashion/move-over-millennials-here-comes-generation-z.html?_r=0
The article hones on Generation Z, people born between 1996 and 2010 so between the ages of 5 and 19, who “are primed to become the dominant youth influencers of tomorrow.” In fact, according from Forbes Magazine, Generation Z “stands to dwarf the millennial generation and will ultimately number close to 80 million.”
In case you were still struggling to wrap your arms around the concept of Millennials, here are the main distinctions. Millennials, sometimes referred to as Generation Y, were born between 1980 and 1995, making them anywhere from aged 20 to 35 (Gen X preceded this group and typically covers anyone born in the 60s and 70s). Millennials came of age in the boom times of the 90s and have had constant access to technology (computers, cell phones) throughout their youth and therefore are more technologically savvy due to growing up within the Information Age; they are consequently very prone to use media in everyday life.
Generation Z, on the other hand, were born after 9/11 and came of age during the Great Recession. Unlike Millennials, this segment has no memory of the free-spending boom times that came before. In turn, they tend to be more open minded, practical, and solution-oriented than Millennials. In terms of pop culture, The NY Times delineates the distinction with: “If Hannah Horvath from ‘Girls’ is the typical millennial — self-involved, dependent, flailing financially in the real world as her expectations of a dream job and life collide with reality — then Alex Dunphy from ‘Modern Family’ represents the Gen Z antidote,” Ms. Greene said. “Alex is a true Gen Z: conscientious, hard-working, somewhat anxious and mindful of the future.”
Marketing to this increasingly important segment of the population requires a deeper understanding of the demographic trends that have resonated throughout their formative years. In the US in particular, “the country’s Hispanic population grew at four times the rate of the total population, according to the Census Bureau” between 2000 and 2010. In addition, “the number of Americans self-identifying as mixed white-and-black biracial rose 134 percent,” and “the number of Americans of mixed white and Asian descent grew by 87 percent.”
For those of us in the media business and who are looking for the optimal way to position our companies for the future, this target market is the first generation to grow up in the smart phone era and predominantly does not remember a time where social media was not part of their daily lives. They are the ultimate multi-taskers, being able to “create a document, edit it, post a photo on Instagram and talk on the phone, all from the user-friendly interface of my iPhone.” They are more prone to use social media outlets like Snapchat over Facebook and prefer short videos on Vine. Similar to Millennials, Generation Z has a limited attention span, which the article best sums up with “if [you] don’t communicate in five words and a big picture, they [you] will not reach this generation.” It’s a message for all of us in media to ponder in our daily efforts to achieve success in 2015 and beyond.
