In Praise of YA and It's Cross Platform Future

I have an admission to make: I FRIGGEN LOVE YA fiction. No, it's not the only genre I read but I tackled many of the classics (Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, Anne Frank, Mockingbird, Little Women, Outsiders, Rumble Fish, the Judy Bloom teenage canon, Tolkein, Austin, House On Mango Street, etc), the mega-franchises (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Enders, Maze Runner, Grisha-verse, Hunger Games, Twilight, Mortal Instruments) and a lot in between (Pet, Being a Wallflower, John Green). I am currently deep into Lauren Robert’s Powerless and am breathless with anticipation to find out what happens to Violet Sorrengail and Xaden Riorson when Rebecca Yarros’ Onyx Storm comes out next month. So this Deadline piece raises an interesting question: Where does YA television go when its primary audience has transitioned from broadcast/cable to a scattered collection of streaming and social platforms?

?? Generational Migration Away from Cable

Traditionally, this programming was the sweet spot of upstarts like The CW, Freeform and previous incarnations like The WB Network. But between 2010 and 2017, broadcast viewership decreased by 51% for 12-24 year olds. Even now, while network broadcast has largely held steady due to the NFL, cable viewership continues to deteriorate (and was down nearly 8% from Sept 2022 to 2024, per Nielsen’s The Gauge).? So, no, teens/young adults aren’t searching for the new obsession flipping through the channels of their non-existent cable package.?

The Good News is that Streaming has picked up a lot of the slack, with titles like Heartstopper (which I’m watching with my 12 year old - Charlie and Nick are adorable but Elle is our fav), Summer I Turned Pretty and the like. But what gets lost in each streamer’s quest to try to be all things to all people? Too much title volume to break through the clutter and titles that get lost in the endless rows of thumbnail trays and algorithmic recommendations.?

??Is Social an Accelerant or Impediment?

This audience isn’t just digital native, this is a generation that is digital-built, with social being the foundation of their cultural worldview. The article smartly clarifies: “not only can social media serve as an avenue to introduce young audiences to content, it can also be a way to build a lasting community that returns season-over-season. Even if I wasn’t TikTok's former Industry Strategy Lead for Media and Entertainment, I can tell you that while these platforms compete with time-spent, they enable audiences to turn the stories, characters, jokes, villains, stakes, worlds and talent into their own Language of Fandom, enabling studios and streamers to create cultural moments and movements. We are beyond the either/or perspective and into the and/both.??Chef's kiss. ?

So What? Who Cares??

1. While I appreciate that this article smartly reflects how this audience has embarrassed both modern-nostalgia and a ‘new to me’ ethos to library content, continuing to super service this segment with content has significant long-term brand equity benefits. Simply put, these are the audiences (and consumers) of the future, not just today.
2. This intersectional ecosystem is the future. While there is some natural consternation about whether social platforms will replace ‘traditional’ entertainment, I would argue that good storytelling and the eventization of cultural moments will be what separates the wheat from the chaff.?
3. Increasingly, I can’t help but think that YA is the foundation of franchise/IP development. Yeah, Law & Order, Gray’s Anatomy, Friends, Yellowstone and NCIS are all adult franchises but gaming and YA seem to hold more dimensional opportunity.?????

Post Script: Why I love YA.?

“I’ve learned new things about myself this week, probably this morning. I think it’s interesting to examine that content that we aspire to see where people are learning more about themselves …and that doesn’t need to stop because you’re out of high school, or you’re out of college, or you’re out of your young adult years, or whatever,” he added.

https://deadline.com/2024/12/young-adult-tv-development-how-to-target-gen-z-tiktok-1236195378/