Published on October 28th, 2017 | by Sunit Nandi

The Millennials’ (And Z’s) Love Affair With Video Driving Big Media Changes

It’s all about video when it comes to media consumption and today’s Millennial generation. And the fact that this preference is shared in a very significant way with the kids the next generation down – the Zs – makes it even more imperative to tap into its power.

If digital video is the platform of preference, no surprise: YouTube is, hands down, the preferred provider of content that 79 percent of this generation happily consumes, according to a Comscore study. YouTube is also nearly two times as popular as traditional television for accessing any sort of content types; but, interestingly enough, here’s what one in every eight Millennial prefers it for: Watching current season television shows.

A study by Animoto, a cloud-based video creation service, also indicated that this generation prefers video for more than just entertainment. It’s the format 80 percent depend on to help guide their buying decisions, while three-fourths of them also follow favorite brands on YouTube. And not surprisingly, nearly half of all Millennials prefer to access videos on their mobile devices, something they’re three times more likely to do than Baby Boomers.

There are shifts underway, however, as Generation Zs (born between 1995 and 2012) grow into their maturity and digital preferences. This group is even more connected than Millennials – half are online ten hours a day, thanks to their ubiquitous smartphones, which has made media consumption more natural and seamless to both the Zs and the youngest Millennials.

Nelson Granados, an information systems professor at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, writes that, “…media consumption for Gen Zs is embedded in their daily lives so they are not even consciously making a decision to consume content.” For Millennials, though, it’s a more conscious decision.

This environment has driven huge growth for over-the-top (OTT) services like Hulu, Netflix or YouTube over cable or satellite services. Trifecta Research found that that’s how almost 60 percent of Millennials consume videos, with nearly three-fourths of them watching over two hours of YouTube daily.

It’s all coming together to whet a huge appetite for content. The opportunity, of course, has driven the transformation of businesses like Netflix and Amazon from their previous roles as distributor and retailer to production. It’s been a good bet: Netflix’ current global subscriber base of 104 million could easily support production budgets of $20 million per hour of content for an original series within the next five years, CFO David Wells recently suggested.

Entrepreneurial concerns have also turned their sights to digital content creation, seeing the Millennials – and the Zs, as fertile territory to explore. The QYOU, for example, launched in 2014, specializes in curating and programming short-form video content in every category and every use. Its content is fed to subscription services and brands in 35 countries.

Especially when you consider the trends that the Millennials and the Zs are putting into play, it opens a rich vein of opportunity to companies [like the QYOU] to explore content, what it looks like and how it’s delivered, says G Scott Paterson, one of the founders of QYOU.

One of the trends has been the growing role of social influencers, who are doing more than just driving new media consumption, but also parlaying that influence into mainstream productions. Cameron Dallas is well known to Millennials and Zs as an American Internet personality on YouTube, and now the star of “Chasing Cameron”, a Netflix reality series.

It’s how we take our cues, not just from influencers, but their Millennial and Generation Z audiences and fans that is leading the quest for content that engages, adds G Scott Paterson.

Tags: affair, changes, love, media, millenials, video

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.