Millennials and Generation Z: goodbye to the mass media

The conventional media, mass media, Today they have a difficult fit with a sociological and cultural context in which individual consumption of content and information prevails, almost always. on demand.

The formula of “whatever you want, where you want and when you want” begins to show some of the consequences that directly affect the “traditional” media industry. If for years the media have had to adapt to the digital revolution, the transformation of the signal, the emergence of multiplatform and multisupport, and innovation in content, now they face the convergence of all these processes of mediamorphosis with a generation of users who They are not represented by existing media, who always recognize them as means and do not consume them. The new generation has decided that His “medium” is the Internet and that what is interesting for them is in the opinion forums that social networks and individual channels represent. streaming which they have turned into authentic niche communities.

The study “The new media consumers: Millennials versus Generation Z(ero)”

Los centennials o postmillennials constitute the current population group that is most deeply modifying the consumption of media content in such a way that they have accentuated the digital divide caused by the immediately preceding generation, the millennials, thus causing the start of a paradigm shift in the communicative ecosystem that, without a doubt, will have relevant consequences in many areas of society.

In a study of Observatory of Leisure and Digital Entertainment (Killed) in collaboration with Panorama Audiovisual, and published in the magazine Studies on the Journalistic Message, we have been able to verify how, despite the small age difference that exists today between these two youth groups, they present different behaviors before the media that respond to a change in mentality and the construction of their own communicative space by the younger generation. This communicative space is a close reflection of their values ​​and responds to the widespread and constant use they make of the Internet in all areas of life. For this group, the media They are not sole prescribers of information and opinion, and they are not your main source of entertainment either. While the millennials have continued to show a preference for informational media content, although to a lesser extent than previous generations, postmillennials o centennials They find their comfort zone in social networks and digital applications for smartphones.

Some results of the study

The objective of the study was observe the media content consumption trends of young people between 18 and 25 years old in Spain, as well as their preferences in digital formats and current media, in order to advance the interpretation of the current digital divide between generations and how it could affect the audiovisual industry, conventional media and digital culture in general. To do this, we selected two age groups that we consider to be protagonists of change: young people between 18 and 21 years old and those between 22 and 25 years old. The first constitute a sample of the generation Z, those born from 1999 onwards, and the latter represent the end of the collective millennial, those born between 1985 and 1998.

After carrying out more than 1,900 surveys, some of the results obtained indicate that the content most consumed by young people between 18 and 25 years old is, without a doubt, videos and music. Both reach in the collective millennial 82% of their preferences and among the centennials 83%. However, taken separately, music seems to be losing followers with the generational change: more than an 11% difference between both groups indicates that the preferences of the youngest are mainly concentrated in content provided with images. Along the same lines, there is a significant increased consumption of games and video games on mobile devices and other digital screens in the case of centennials, 8% more than in the group millennial. Also podcast listening decreases among the youngest and the consumption of news and media programs.

The preference for television content decreases by around 20% in the case of generation Z compared to the previous generation, while those from radio and the press are also cut, although to a lower percentage. The category Others (present in the survey openly), where they themselves include the Internet, social networks and virtual platforms as “media”, are those that experience the most significant growth, 22%.

Regarding the media content they consume, we find several signs: the radio is not listened to as much as it might seem through devices with screens; the millennials 46% say they do not listen to the radio, a figure that increases to 72% in the case of generation Z.

Participation in the content by young people focuses especially on the likes, 44% in the millennials which increases up to 50% in generation Z. Comments on publications decrease with the generational change, as do “retweets” or the fact of sharing on a blog or own page, which, in the case of generation Z, is non-existent (0% responses).

More entertainment, fast consumption and little attention

For traditional media adaptation to ICT is no longer enough to reach this audience. Generation Z is a participatory, aware, committed generation and is endowed with more resources than any other to date to achieve social and personal success. However, the digital environment itself and the excessive social protection with which they have grown up limit their capacity for attention, reflection, concentration and even empathy with their peers. They are young people born at the height of capitalism, mostly within democratic regimes devoid of historical memory prior to 2001, but who have known the economic crisis of 2008 and its consequences. Much of his detachment from traditional values ​​comes from overcoming that context; Their goal is to obtain personal success, in all aspects, but not always through effort, discipline or continuous training of employees. millennials, but through the personal development of skills and competencies that make them “the best” in a competitive context. In a way, they are disbelievers of the previous status and The current state of misinformation and discredit of media information accentuates their preference for entertainment. The unconscious prescription that formats have on them game, video games and realities, for example, along with audiovisual content that expresses emotions and moods that flood social networks, deserve in-depth independent investigation; One might wonder if they are content that responds to the demands of young people or are market and industry codes to simplify the behavior and dispersion of this sector of the population and achieve their favor.

Generation Z consumes content preferably online and they are content distributed by large digital platforms on the Internet; Whether video games, online programs or fiction series, their world is virtual and entirely audiovisual. For the millennials the textual message, although brief, and the digital audio are part of their daily life. The influence that the media has on this group is still important, especially those that distribute information through Twitter or Facebook, but also on social media platforms. podcasting. Those under 21 years of age, however, rarely report its use and sometimes are even unaware of its existence.

The current generation of young people points, as their preferred means of communication, to Internet and social networks, but they are not media in the traditional sense of the last century. The challenge for the media today is more complex than ever. Attracting this new generation of young people to become a media audience is difficult without falling into sensationalism and pure entertainment everywhere. The fundamental demands of the millennials They focused on achieving higher quality content, giving certain programs a greater sense of humor, increasing contact with people on the street, better stories and more ubiquity for consumption; The tools that were proposed to achieve this were the increase in creativity and innovation in formats., content and styles, in addition to expanding the possibilities of distribution and dissemination. However, today the centennials They have internalized what is possible and impossible in the short term of that formula and They no longer demand, they have chosen: in their time, be it work, social, family or leisure, they consume practically the same thing and are generally not newspaper news, radio programs or television programs, with few exceptions.

Nereida López-Vidales

Full Professor of Journalism and Coordinator of the ELLCOM Doctoral Program at the University of Valladolid.

Director of the Digital Leisure and Entertainment Observatory (ONCED)

Read the full report.