Should we worry about the generation gap becoming a chasm in 2021?

Back in 1967 when John Poppy first coined the phrase the reality was the distance between old and young was more of a chink than a gap. The old were defined as the over thirties, the young just a decade behind them. The worry was that their politics, their mores, and their tastes were different. But the truth then, and for the following five decades, was that they saw the world through the same lenses. The way they received their news and views of what was happening and what it meant for them and others was a shared experience.

In the 1980’s when I first started working in media that was because of a lack of content. There was only one commercial television channel; just 1,200 newspapers; only 300 magazines; no internet, and no such thing as a smart phone. We all saw the world through the same window because it was the only window available.

By 2010 two significant changes had occurred.

There was much more content, as we had many more channels. More than 1,000 TV channels; 2,500 newspaper titles; 8,054 magazines.

And we were spending more hours each day consuming media than we spent at work or asleep. But all of us, old and young, were using the same media channels. We weren’t watching the same programmes, or reading the same magazines, but we were all consuming the same edited and regulated media channels.

Fast forward to 2020 and that is no longer true. It turns out that Margaret Thatcher was right- there is no such thing as society. Certainly there is no such thing as an all adult audience anymore.

Figure one below shows how rapidly this has changed. Only five years ago, in 2015, the over 55’s and the under 34’s spent 58% of their media day on the same channels. By April 2020 this had fallen to just 8%.

Figure One: The young and the old no longer consume the same media channels

Source: IPA Touchpoints 2020

How this can have changed so rapidly is explained by figure two, below.

Here we show the amount of media time each day spent on different “devices”. Most of these are actually devices (laptops, tablets, smart phones, speakers, consoles & TV sets) but we also include physical print in the form of mail, newspapers & magazines.

It turns out we don’t have a channel gap- we have a platform gap. The young spend 75% of their media day on internet connected devices- smartphones, tablets, laptops and consoles. The old spend 80% of their day with TV, radio, and print- non connected platforms.

Figure two: Because the Old and the young are no longer using the same devices to consume media

Source: IPA Touchpoints 2020

So, in 2020 Boomers and Millenials/GenZ are looking at the world through very, very different windows. But that’s not the really scary thing. What worries me is that they are seeing different worlds.

Figure three below shows (just for commercial media, but that’s the majority of all our consumption) the time each generation spends with different media channels. From physical print to online magazines; from broadcast TV to streamed radio; from OOH to social media.

Our over 55’s devote 80% of their media hours to channels where the content is regulated. To TV and radio and newspapers and magazines where Ofcom and others have a remit.

Our 16-34’s spend 70% of their time in the unregulated wild west of social media, the functional internet and “other” online video. All places where QAnon reign supreme.

Figure three: The most worrying gap of all- regulated vs unregulated content

Source: IPA Touchpoints 2020

What does this mean for advertisers in 2021?

Well, the simplest and most prosaic point is that there is no such thing as an all-adult media schedule anymore. If you target and report against all adults you will effectively deliver 35–54-year-olds and will miss either the young or the old or both.

There are other considerations beyond just media selection. For some media there are concerns that the audience research doesn’t reflect the reality of consumption now. Route, the OOH audience measurement tracker, is effectively ignoring 2020. That would be fine in itself but they are replacing six months of lost data from March-August 2020 with data from 2016-2017. Quite how this data from what seems a different epoch will be valid is lost on this author.

What worries me most are the societal and thus messaging implications. Here the gap can be summed up by #Boomer remover that trended on Twitter in March 2020 and made a return in January this year.

The young are angry, and possibly rightly so.

Figure four, below shows the relative impact of furlough on young and old.

Figure four: % of 16-34’s vs over 55’s furloughed December 2020

Source: YouGov 3rd January 2021

17.5% of the under 34’s claimed to have been furloughed at the end of last year, with many more losing their jobs or on short time. That’s 2 ? times the impact of furlough on the older group. As furlough ends in spring the real reality will bite.

And it will bite at the same time that another reality dawns. The young wont be able to take a “Gap year” and go travelling. Figure five shows that 50% of the under 34’s are currently saving in order to be able to holiday or travel in 2021. Back at Christmas this was still a hope

Figure five: The young are saving in hope of travelling this summer

Source: YouGov 3rd January 2021

Also at Christmas, as figure six (my last I promise) shows, the young also were resigned to not getting the vaccine any time soon. 60% of them didn’t expect to be vaccinated until after September and the end of the summer festival season. In contrast at the time this question was asked 2% of the over 55’s had already been vaccinated.

Figure six: % of 16-34’s vs over 55’s expecting vaccine before May or after September

Source: YouGov 3rd January 2021

Fast forward to mid-February as I write this, and we know that all the over 50’s will be vaccinated by May and the young will indeed have to wait until September. It also seems that overseas travel will be subject to “taxes” this summer, in the form of quarantine and tests, both paid for by the traveller. Taxes that the young can least afford.

Many of the older group are footloose, vaccinated, have bank accounts swelled with savings from the last 12 months enforced idleness, and have the time and assets to resource a period of quarantine in hotels or at home.

So, on one level, I completely understand Virgin Atlantic running this ad in January

They placed it in The Sunday Times, which one could argue is unlikely to be seen by the younger audiences that images like this will offend.

Clearly from a commercial and immediate performance point of view this tactic makes sense. It is clear messaging to a group who have the means to travel, and pretty much their only hope of generating near to medium term revenue.

From a long-term brand point of view this message carries significant risk.

Alienation of core audiences who have been your bread and butter for decades in search of income this quarter strikes me as asset stripping your brand.

So, after nearly two thousand words (thank you for sticking with me) what’s our advice?

There is, for the first time, a real generation gap in media.

As advertisers and agencies, we have to carefully construct our media investments to ensure we reach and engage different lifestage groups. It will no longer happen by default, even in the highest reach media channels.

That gives us the opportunity to tailor messaging to the age groups in their different media ecosystems.

The opportunity is to do so in an inclusive way, that builds a cross generational tribe who love our brand.

The risk is, that by chasing short term performance revenue from the old in this first half year, we alienate the young who see us ignoring and even exacerbating their grief.

We need to face the reality that in 2021 there is a generation gap in media. We have the opportunity to bridge that gap with our brands and messaging, and not leverage it into a wider chasm.