The computer is taking over from television as the prime source of entertainment for prized young consumers, professional services firm Deloitte says in its third annual State of the Media Democracy report.
Three quarters of people aged 14 to 25 – the so-called "millennials," the next generation of consumers – declared this digital shift to be true for them, with the same response delivered consistently across the five countries in which the study was conducted.
"It’s clear that millennials are influencing the evolution of digital content and technology in general on a broad, international scale," said Ed Moran, Deloitte’s director of product innovation.
"This generation of consumers was the first to be raised on the Internet and is united across borders and cultures by their digital media preferences, so the implications for global marketers are unprecedented," Moran said of the survey, which was released at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and surveyed 8,800 consumers aged 14 to 75 from the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany and Japan.
Across the five countries surveyed, millennials are the most active in gaming, music and Internet use for socializing. As well, 59 per cent of millennials use their cellphones as an entertainment device versus 33 per cent of all consumers.
Television is paying the price for that, with the millennials spending one-third less time watching their sets.
Yet consumers still rank television as having the most impact on buying decisions, with magazine, online and newspaper advertising ranking second, the study said.
"It really is the best of times and the worst of times for advertisers," said Moran. "Never have there been more or more measurable ways to reach a consumer with your message.
"But effectively leveraging these media platforms requires companies to understand emerging consumer preferences, behaviours and technologies, and to employ new tactics when targeting these consumers on a global level."
Eamon Hoey, of management consulting firm Hoey and Associates, said this process is made more difficult by the millennials’ markedly different social values – more focused on themselves than the world around them – and the fact that many companies are run by a generation unfamiliar with them.
"Without a doubt, when it come to millennial kids, we have a problem in terms of marketing. We have a problem in terms of setting our strategies and asking the key question of who are our customers going to be tomorrow and what are they going to place value on."
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