By: Andrew Senesac
Millenial Advertising and the Millennial Consumer
Taking a generational focus into American consumption of media, one sees the millennial as consumers, quickly becoming a polarizing generation. Addicted to smartphones and social media, millennials have become a buzzword and a stereotype for a Starbucks drinking, selfie taking, and uninformed zombie glued to their phone. Millennials have never seen, smelled, or touched a newspaper, nor do they like the concept. These are the extreme sides of the stereotypes; and they are wrong.
Why Millennial Advertising Important for your Brand
Millennials are the next big audience for consuming media, and nobody consumes digital media like millennials, especially on smartphones. Millennials also read magazines, and watch TV, just to a lesser degree. Millennials happen to be the largest consumers of radio of any generation.
Here is the thing: generational stereotypes and media simply don’t mix. Millennials will buy magazines from stands and stores; even read a newspaper. Yes, this generation has grown up surrounded by technology and its youngest members grew up with the internet, but they are also capable of using the more traditional forms of media, while also using three times as much digital video as boomers. Millennials make up a bulk of People Magazine’s readership. Balance and understanding is completely necessary for seeing media consumption is headed in the near future.
There is no mistaking that media consumption is bounding headlong towards digital. Mobile, Digital Video, connected screens, and VR await in the future of consumption. Millennials, however, are not the only ones driving growth in the digital space. They are helped by their predecessors; Generation-X and Baby Boomers. Millennials as consumers are not the only ones driving growth, especially when spending power is considered as a factor (a statistic where Boomers reign). This mantle will be claimed by the younger generations soon enough, and when that happens, we will be able to fully understand just how well print, television, and digital media fit together.
Millennial Advertising
Millennials are reflective of their previous generations, in that they do enjoy varied consumption of media, but with emphasis on the digital and mobile side of things. What separates millennials from Boomers or Gen-X is adaptability to the latest trends in any form of digital media. Many healthcare advertisers have done a good job of adjusting their advertising strategies as these millennial consumer trends shift. Read more about how advertising for millennial moms has also shed some light within the media industry.
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