Millennials are taking over. As the first generation born in the age of the Internet, the activities, interests, and actions of current 18-34 year olds are much different from the generations before them. In fact, this year, millennials will outnumber baby boomers. This means that understanding, attracting, and engaging this demographic is critical to the success of news media companies for decades to come.
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Important Facts about Millennials
They have different motivations.
Where Gen X’ers were motivated by money (making and spending it), millennials are motivated by the mission. They are more interested in transforming society and saving the world. When they pursue careers, they pursue them based on the impact it will provide, not the income they will receive. Obviously, if there is a change in how millennials choose to make money, there will also be a change in how they choose to spend it.
Millennials cite “trustworthiness” as a critical factor in deciding where they receive their news. Despite assumptions about the decline of newspaper circulation and revenue, millennials still view it as a credible source. More importantly, they value authenticity over content, checking for the relevance of news to their daily lives.
Mobility is key.
It should be no surprise that this generation heavily uses mobile technology. Millennials want information on the go, be it en route to work, home, or beyond. Approximately 94% of all millennials own smartphones, with 40% paying some form of digital news (e.g. subscriptions, apps, etc.) and 70% accessing newspaper content online per month. In 2014, the fastest growing digital audience was women ages 18-34. The fact that the median age for mobile-exclusive newspaper readers is 33 illustrates that millennials still want and value news media.
Social media is a source for news.
Millennials value the connections made via social networks. They cite social media as a means to exposing them to differing opinions and views. Approximately 90% of millennials get news from Facebook. Whether it’s a link to an article on a news site or more, millennials consume news differently than past generations. Some actively search for news on social media sites, creating a uniquely different path to news content than ever before.
Unwanted marketing is blocked.
While millennials are more inclined to receive news online, the same can’t be said for ads. In fact, they are more inclined to regularly leverage print newspapers and circulars for ads. Approximately 85% of all millennials who regularly read Sunday papers report checking the circulars for ads, with 70% acting on print ads per month.
Related: Advantages of Newspaper Advertising: Why Newspapers are Still King
What does this mean for news media companies?
Millennials still want and value news media, particularly for the advertising that they not only actively seek, but also act upon. Properly understanding this generation means the opportunity to not only expand your company’s advertising reach, but also attract and retain a new loyal audience.
Mediaspectrum’s CORE Platform is a cloud-based solution that ensures you maximize every opportunity to reach this important demographic. Using our ContentWatch solution, multichannel publishing is streamlined into a single platform that will increase ad revenue by exploiting every channel relevant and important to millennials-mobile, social, print, and more.
Millennials are a generation whom not only will redefine the world, but also advertising and, specifically, how news media companies reach their audience. Given the wealth of developing information about this generation and opportunities available, it’s important that news media companies begin to pay serious attention to what makes them tick.
Are you doing all you can to reach millennials?
To learn more about how to maximize your impact, click here.
