According to a new study, Gen Z and Millennials reject traditional advertising because they prefer hearing directly from authentic, relatable voices – creators. The research found that Gen Z and Millennials are shifting their attention away from conventional media channels and toward global content creators.?
Global creator commerce company Whalar releases the results of its “Reaching the Unreachables” research, which explores why creator content has largely replaced traditional advertising as a strategy for engaging the “Ad-Never Generation.”
Key findings from the ‘Reaching the Unreachables’ study include:
- Audiences are going straight to the content they want, seeking realism and connection in their social media experience – and doing it almost entirely ad-free.?More than half of Gen Zs surveyed in the U.S. reported spending ZERO hours on ad-supported television on any given day, with more than 60% of young consumers in the U.S. and U.K. saying they always try to block or skip ads when online. These generations are gravitating toward small, private digital communities, choosing to build meaningful connections around shared passions rather than spend their time in large, public-facing media spaces.
- Creators build trust and loyalty, and they make people feel “good.”?More than half of respondents (>50%) said that they tend to trust online content from individuals as much or more than content from big news and media organizations, and that they trust the product recommendations of the creators they like. In the U.S., 64% of young people surveyed said they “really enjoy and feel loyal to” creators and influencers, and 61% said they often purchase products they’ve seen demonstrated or discussed by content creators on social media. Young people are also more likely to share content from people they engage with than they are to share content from brands, with nearly 3 out of 4 Gen Zs and Millennials sharing content from individuals as frequently as every week.
- Young consumers respond to creators and listen to them.?Roughly 7 in 10 people surveyed said they are more likely to trust a review from a person who “seems like them.” More than 60% said they are more likely to trust a product recommendation if it comes from someone who is part of the same online community they belong to, and that they have used online communities to help them decide which products and brands to buy.
