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How do young people watch television? If we can answer this question, we will be answering, in part, what the television of the future will be like. What content attracts new generations? Have they really left linear television? Where have they gone? This was one of the topics that was debated at the Iberseries & Platino Industria meeting that was held in Madrid the first week of October. Within this framework, the consulting firm GECA presented a study focused precisely on the television content consumed by generation Z.
But who makes up Generation Z? It is the one that follows the millennials and precedes the Alpha generation. In terms of audience, it has been established that they are those young people who are between 18 and 24 years old (in reality, the generation goes a little further, but demographers have not agreed on the years in which it begins and ends) . They were born with the internet and smartphones at their disposal, and are the first fully digital native generation. They live connected, they relate to the world through social networks, audiovisual language is part of their way of relating to the world, and it is natural for them to create audiovisual content. The report highlights that “knowing their current behavior in the audiovisual world with respect to serial fiction, entertainment and documentary products is essential to understanding the future.”
At Iberseries & Platino Industria, the creator of the Euphoria Israeli—the original—Ron Leshem, provided information: according to Google, it is a generation that pays attention to a screen for an average of eight seconds. “You have to surprise young people with a visual scenario that attracts them, as is the case with Euphoria either Barbie”. He himself asked for more series and content that deals with “normal people” for this generation, and that young people consider these contents even therapeutic when connecting with their characters.
The GECA report attempts to answer the questions what they see, who sees it, where they see it, when they see it and how they see it. To do this, they have used data from their latest OTT barometer, published in July 2023.
That
A curious fact highlighted in the report is that this age group tends to show greater interest than others in reality television and talent search programs, which they continue to watch especially on traditional television. That is to say, they have not left conventional TV as much as we might imagine. For example, The island of temptations It has always had a very young audience. Being able to comment on them on social networks or the next day in class and at work are the reasons to see them live.
The GECA study highlights the pull of The one that is coming, leader of this report both in the general public and among generation Z, although more markedly in the latter. It also highlights the appearance in the classification of content “with youth and adolescent themes, as well as more transgressive content.” Series like Elite, The Simpson, Sex Education either Wednesday They appear in the top 10 of young people and are not in the top 10 of the general public. Another curiosity is how some titles climb positions within the most valued series (compared to the most viewed). Among the most valued are Never Have I Ever, The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Valeria, Queen Charlotte, Welcome to Eden, Euphoria. Riverdale and The Last of Us. Three are youth titles, four are supernatural and two are romantic dramas.
In entertainment made by platforms, I’m Georgina tops the list of his favorite programs (as in the series, we must take into account the dates on which the surveys for this barometer were carried out: between July 3 and 20). They follow him The Kardashians, Influencers: Surviving the networks, The Grand Tour, Dulceida naked and Drag Race Spain.
Who
While those over 55 years of age make up 63.2% of linear television viewers, 67.5% of those who use platforms are under 55 years of age. If we focus on viewers aged 18 to 24, they are 10.3% of platform users, while they are only 2.7% of viewers. “This shows that young audiences have not stopped consuming audiovisual products, but now do so in different windows and on various devices,” says the report.
The platforms most used by generation Z are Netflix and Prime Video, just like among the general public. However, the increase in Netflix in this age group is striking (from 65.2% to 80.58%) and the increases in Disney+ (from 37.25% among the general public to 57.77% among young people) and HBO Max (from 30.95% to 43.59%). Of the free platforms with or without advertising, TikTok, YouTube and Twitch are the favorites of this age group, followed by the free version of Atresplayer, RTVE Play and Mitele.
When
Another interesting point of the analysis is the one that refers to the moments in which these viewers consume audiovisual content on platforms. From Monday to Thursday, this consumption occurs mainly between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., while on Fridays consumption increases in that period and grows strongly between 11:00 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. That last time slot is the one that dominates on Saturdays. On Sunday, consumption returns to a level more similar to that of Monday to Thursday, but with a considerable increase in the afternoon. From Monday to Friday, the time dedicated by young people to on-demand viewing does not usually exceed two hours, but on weekends it is between two and four hours.
As
Contrary to what we might think, individual consumption of the platforms is reduced by half in this age group compared to that of linear television, but it almost triples if the viewing is in a group. Smart TV is the favorite place for these viewers to watch this content, followed by the laptop and smartphone. 60% of platform users between 18 and 24 years old usually download shows and series to watch them later (compared to 38.7% of total users). And another curiosity: by far, the favorite place to see this downloaded content is the home itself, followed, by far, by means of transportation.
Series creators and platform managers will be interested to know that younger viewers have a preference for series with between 5 and 13 episodes and a duration of between 30 and 60 minutes per episode. And other curiosities: 37.8% of young people wait for the episode of the week of the series released on linear television to be on a platform; 35% wait for all the episodes to be available; and 70% interact on social networks while watching television.
In conclusion, the study shows that the content that these viewers consume the most on the platforms is fiction, although they show greater interest than the rest in realities and the talent shows. In series, they opt for those with youth themes and more transgressive content and prefer comedy, action and adventure, as well as romance and horror. In entertainment, they say they prefer humor, but what they see most are realities about famous “Faced with the aging profile of linear television, the profile of platform users encompasses targets wider and well above that of linear television” in that range, says the study.
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