Millennials (those born from 1980 onward) are a key target for many brands and marketers. Whilst older groups are still the largest media audiences these under 35s have unique digital consumption habits. As they get older, these habits will only become more mainstream. So understanding more about this audience, and how they use digital tools and technologies, is critical for any brand.
A recent report from comScore highlights research into the behaviour of this group – how they use technology and how they interact online. They summarise five trends to understand this audience better, and the report is worth a read. But I wanted to focus on the data they highlight on how US Millennials behave:
- Millennials spend 96 hours a week online, 69% of this on mobile devices. This is more time overall than any other age-group, and whilst all groups spend more time on mobiles, the gap between that and desktop devices is significantly larger for Millennials.
- 81% of Millennials own a smartphone, and 50% of these own an Android. Whilst the iPhone is more popular among Millennials than other age groups, Android devices are still in the majority.
- Millennials use more social networks than other age groups. A real trend among Millennials is to use a multitude of social networks – each for a different purpose. This is one of the reasons that Facebook usage is dropping among this audience – they are using a whole ecosystem of tools and apps to engage with their contacts online.
- Millennials watch an average of 12 videos online every single day. This group is significantly more likely to watch video content online – from streaming TV shows to catching music and clips on YouTube. They watch an average of 356 videos every month, compared with 259 for those aged 35-54.
So this is a group that is more likely to be using mobile devices, are promiscuous when it comes to social networks and consume huge quantities of video content. They exhibit quite different characteristics to their older peers, and marketers who want to target Millennials need to adapt to these trends – adopting new ways of reaching and engaging this audience. For many this will mean a change to how they currently engage with their audiences, but as the Millennials become mainstream, these new digital media habits will become the norm.
