Nielsen: 18-34 Undergoing Rapid Changes Since 2017

Targeting has moved away from age and gender over the past two decades partly as a result of TRA getting the ball rolling most influential 20052014 and the ensuing widespread empirical findings that targeting specific kinds of purchasers is more productive of higher ROAS than targeting young people Yet the lionamp8217s share of television ad spend is still placed based on age and gender guarantees Advertising workflow habits change very slowlyHowever other things change faster such as the habits and mentalemotional states of consumers Numerous sources have reported that there is a rising crisis of despair depression and suicide among 1834 Americans For example Gallup in May 2023 reported that in 2017 1829yearolds in the US were about average in terms of being diagnosed with depression but by 2023 that level had increased 68 in just six years to over one in three people in that age groupIn a probablyrelated finding in a recent New Yorker article writer Nathan Heller cites a study by medical software company Epic which found an overall tripling of ADHD diagnoses between 2010 and 2022 skewing even higher among younger peopleThe same age group has also shown the greatest shift in media habits over the same period Based on Nielsen between 2017 and today 1834 has shifted strongly from watching live and timeshifted linear television to streaming video Over 60 of the time spent with TV now is via streaming for 1834 as compared with 36 for the total population Even videogame usage went down during this period among 1834 as the use of streaming rose among this group both on TVconnected Devices smart TVs and USB adaptors and on Internetconnected devices computers tablets and especially smartphonesThis is consistent with the oftobserved phenomenon of shortening attention spans especially among younger people Linear and timeshifted TV generally involves attention commitments of a half hour or hour The use of streaming video by 1834 probably involves average viewing durations per piece of content which are far shorter than thatOver the same time period there was also a 32 increase in the use of social media by this groupThis increase in the use of social media could be tied to the depression and ADHD stats risingTerrestrial radio has been declining while audio streaming including podcasts have been growing according to this Edison reportThe same Edison report comments that for 1834 who spend nearly three hours a day with streaming audiobroadcast radio had increased 18 in their streaming audio usage 2020 to 2023It appears that with these shifts there has been some reduction in overall media usage among 1834 The absolute number of hours and minutes per week across the media data above from Nielsen video and social media and Edison audio come up lower in 2023 than in 2017 Where is this time going Some of it among the most depressed might simply be laying around Some of it might be more positive use of time such as working studying or pursuing lofty ambitions There has been a great increase in part time employment during this same time period except during CovidIt39s become even harder to reach this most active age segment than it has always been Today probably the best way to reach 1834 is addressable TV not just streaming but also MVPD addressable TV not to mention radio streaming audio including podcasts influencers and outofhomeDOOHThese younger folks obviously have a lot of things on their mind and ads might not have their optimal effect on people who are so discouraged and distracted Knowing their state of mind amp8211 which is trending down for all age groups amp8211 should be taken into strong consideration in the development of advertising campaigns today Campaigns that are funny might continue to succeed but cannot be assumed to be a panacea Ads which are uplifting and inspiring are likely to overperform if executed with meticulous balanceThe way the situation has changed in just the last six years or so provides a lot of food for thought about revising ancient belief systems about advertising This would be a good time to give up on the old idea that younger is better for targeting ads in general The optimal target for any ad consists of people who are already motivated by the subtly communicated values in the specific ad Not just product features but the subconscious human motivations in peopleamp8217s lives The motivations in your ad decree who the target should be amp8211 you just have to find people who have those as their main motivations amp8211 which is what RMT and Semasio do together in the US and Canada soon to be everywhereNew content development executives ought to consider programs about depressed young people and how the heroes and heroines lift themselves out of it and make their lives count not only for themselves but for othersAlso given the possibility that attention span is an underlying factor in these video shifts content programmers and content marketers ought to consider ways of offering shorter form versions of existing shows and even developing new series that provide daily serialized stories as short as a few minutes each This of course was tried by Jeffrey Katzenberg with Quibi 20182020 preCovid but maybe it was just ahead of its time Covid did catalyze a lot of change In the new era we are in Quibi or something like it might be worth a second comingPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Nielsen: 18-34 Undergoing Rapid Changes Since 2017

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