Published on Ad Age
New research shows ways advertisers can shift media strategies to better engage with younger TV viewers
The divide between viewing habits for older versus younger generations continues to deepen, which means advertisers may need to embrace new media strategies in order to fully capture Gen Z and millennial consumers’ attention.
While viewership has been shifting from linear TV to connected TV, and streaming platforms broadly, the medium is particularly impactful for reaching Gen Z and millennial viewers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, both age groups spend over half of their time consuming video content on connected TV, while Gen X and Boomers still watch mostly on broadcast and cable, according to new research from Magna Media Trials and Samsung Ads.
Engaging Gen Z and Millennials is far more complex than simply shifting spend from one platform to another, and each group shows unique viewing habits compared to one another as well. For example, a Gen Z viewer watching TV throughout the day was attentive to the most ads during late night TV (12 a.m. to 6 a.m.), followed by daytime hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). The opposite is true for millennials: ads were most viewed during primetime hours (7 p.m. to 12 a.m.).
Gen Z and millennials also show opposite behaviors for the type of content that they were most receptive to seeing ads during. Gen Z was most open to advertising during multi-hour viewing sessions, specifically while watching movies over user-generated content or TV shows, while millennials showed their highest receptivity during viewing sessions of less than an hour and during user-generated content such as YouTube videos.
For brands looking to engage young audiences, the research isn’t meant to signal advertisers should immediately shift all media buys to movies viewed after midnight. Rather, “I would consider these untapped opportunities where advertisers should explore and test and shift some in that direction,” said Kara Manatt, executive VP of intelligence solutions at Magna.
Manatt said that as advertisers have followed audiences to CTV platforms, “a lot of the focus was on being more personalized with who [the client] is reaching…but we have not yet taken full advantage of the creative aspect of CTV.”
CTV and streaming platforms offer advertisers greater capabilities to serve different ads to different viewers, or evolve the creative served to one viewer over time, as well as new formats such as shoppable and interactive ads.
Magna and Samsung’s research found that millennial viewers were receptive to brands that showed multiple creative variations when they were served multiple ads from the same brand, while Gen Z preferred consistent messaging. However, both age groups were less attentive to ads being shown multiple times within short time periods and were most tuned in when an ad was spaced out by at least three hours.
Media buyers have long criticized frequency control in streaming and the inability for some platforms to reduce frequency while still delivering audience guarantees, which they say won’t happen until ad-supported streaming grows audience numbers.
However, the length of ads can also determine viewer attention and can create more cost efficient opportunities for marketers. On average, Gen Z and millennials watched nearly seven seconds of 15-second ads, according to the research. Attention increased for longer ad formats, but not at an even rate. Both age groups watched approximately 10 seconds of 30-second spots; Gen Z watched about 12 seconds of 60-second ads while millennials watched them for nearly 14 seconds. Millennials were tuned in for 15 seconds of 90-second spots, while Gen Z’s attention dropped to under 11 seconds for the longer ads.
Largely, “brands should be considering the different patterns” of Gen Z and millennial TV viewers when developing media strategies, said Manatt. A brand “may want to even deliver a different message to a millennial than they would Gen Z. They’re in very different life stages, so it makes sense for all advertisers to start exploring and looking at generations uniquely.”
