With more people of all ages online than ever before, marketers must create content that resonates with multiple generations. Successful marketers realize that each generation has unique expectations, values and experiences that influence consumer behaviors, and that offering your audience content that reflects their shared interests is a powerful way to connect with them and inspire them to take action.
We’re in the midst of a generational shift, with Millennials expected to surpass Baby Boomers in 2015 as the largest living generation. In order to be competitive, marketers need to realize where key distinctions and similarities lie in terms of how these different generations consume content and share it with with others.
To better understand the habits of each generation, BuzzStream and Fractl surveyed over 1,200 individuals and segmented their responses into three groups: Millennials (born between 1977–1995), Generation X (born between 1965–1976), and Baby Boomers (born between 1946–1964). [Eds note: The official breakdown for each group is as follows: Millennials (1981-1997), Generation X (1965-1980), and Boomers (1946-1964)]
Our survey asked them to identify their preferences for over 15 different content types while also noting their opinions on long-form versus short-form content and different genres (e.g., politics, technology, and entertainment).
We compared their responses and found similar habits and unique trends among all three generations.
Here's our breakdown of the three key takeaways you can use to elevate your future campaigns:
1. Baby Boomers are consuming the most content
However, they have a tendency to enjoy it earlier in the day than Gen Xers and Millennials.
Although we found striking similarities between the younger generations, the oldest generation distinguished itself by consuming the most content. Over 25 percent of Baby Boomers consume 20 or more hours of content each week. Additional findings:
- Baby Boomers also hold a strong lead in the 15–20 hours bracket at 17 percent, edging out Gen Xers and Millennials at 12 and 11 percent, respectively
- A majority of Gen Xers and Millennials—just over 22 percent each—consume between 5 and 10 hours per week
- Less than 10 percent of Gen Xers consume less than five hours of content a week—the lowest of all three groups
We also compared the times of day that each generation enjoys consuming content. The results show that most of our respondents—over 30 percent— consume content between 8 p.m. and midnight. However, there are similar trends that distinguish the oldest generation from the younger ones:
- Baby Boomers consume a majority of their content in the morning. Nearly 40 percent of respondents are online between 5 a.m. and noon.
- The least popular time for most respondents to engage with content online is late at night, between midnight and 5 a.m., earning less than 10 percent from each generation
- Gen X is the only generation to dip below 10 percent in the three U.S. time zones: 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., 6 to 8 p.m., and midnight to 5 a.m.
When it comes to which device each generation uses to consume content, laptops are the most common, followed by desktops. The biggest distinction is in mobile usage: Over 50 percent of respondents who use their mobile as their primary device for content consumption are Millennials. Other results reveal:
- Not only do Baby Boomers use laptops the most (43 percent), but they also use their tablets the most. (40 percent of all primary tablet users are Baby Boomers).
- Over 25 percent of Millennials use a mobile device as their primary source for content
- Gen Xers are the least active tablet users, with less than 8 percent of respondents using it as their primary device
2. Preferred content types and lengths span all three generations
One thing every generation agrees on is the type of content they enjoy seeing online. Our results reveal that the top four content types— blog articles, images, comments, and eBooks—are exactly the same for Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials. Additional comparisons indicate:
- The least preferred content types—flipbooks, SlideShares, webinars, and white papers—are the same across generations, too (although not in the exact same order)
- Surprisingly, Gen Xers and Millennials list quizzes as one of their five least favorite content types
All three generations also agree on ideal content length, around 300 words. Further analysis reveals:
- Baby Boomers have the highest preference for articles under 200 words, at 18 percent
- Gen Xers have a strong preference for articles over 500 words compared to other generations. Over 20 percent of respondents favor long-form articles, while only 15 percent of Baby Boomers and Millennials share the same sentiment.
- Gen Xers also prefer short articles the least, with less than 10 percent preferring articles under 200 words
However, in regards to verticals or genres, where they consume their content, each generation has their own unique preference:
- Baby Boomers have a comfortable lead in world news and politics, at 18 percent and 12 percent, respectively
- Millennials hold a strong lead in technology, at 18 percent, while Baby Boomers come in at 10 percent in the same category
- Gen Xers fall between Millennials and Baby Boomers in most verticals, although they have slight leads in personal finance, parenting, and healthy living
- Although entertainment is the top genre for each generation, Millennials and Baby Boomers prefer it slightly more than than Gen Xers do
3. Facebook is the preferred content sharing platform across all three generations
Facebook remains king in terms of content sharing, and is used by about 60 percent of respondents in each generation studied. Surprisingly, YouTube came in second, followed by Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn, respectively. Additional findings:
- Baby Boomers share on Facebook the most, edging out Millennials by only a fraction of a percent
- Although Gen Xers use Facebook slightly less than other generations, they lead in both YouTube and Twitter, at 15 percent and 10 percent, respectively
- Google+ is most popular with Baby Boomers, at 8 percent, nearly double that of both Gen Xers and Millennials
Although a majority of each generation is sharing content on Facebook, the type of content they are sharing, especially visuals, varies by each age group. The oldest generation prefers more traditional content, such as images and videos. Millennials prefer newer content types, such as memes and GIFs, while Gen X predictably falls in between the two generations in all categories except SlideShares. Other findings:
- The most popular content type for Baby Boomers is video, at 27 percent
- Parallax is the least popular type for every generation, earning 1 percent or less in each age group
- Millennials share memes the most, while less than 10 percent of Baby Boomers share similar content
Marketing to several generations can be challenging, given the different values and ideas that resonate with each group. With the number of online content consumers growing daily, it’s essential for marketers to understand the specific types of content that each of their audiences connect with, and align it with their content marketing strategy accordingly.
Although there is no one-size-fits-all campaign, successful marketers can create content that multiple generations will want to share.
Great Article Andrea,
still you should always think about WHO is your target audience, which is different in different niches/branches. Not everyone wants or needs to target all at once.
Still, these are nice infographics and diagrams to see when and how to target the audience you want/need.
Thank you :-)
Thanks, Michael! And I completely agree. Not all of your campaigns will be targeted towards three different generations, so it's great that you can also take this data and look at what specific groups respond to based on your niche. Great feedback!
Great comparative article. I find bullet #3 especially interesting given the recent algo update announced to reduce the amount of off-site shared content shown throughout newsfeeds. I wonder what impact this update will have on user behavior, especially considering that Facebook has a commanding lead over the other content platforms. Perhaps this will make room for a new social platform, similar to a Pinterest?
Great point, James! I think Facebook dominance will be hard to overcome by other platforms, but I do think that the latest update will continue to increase the popularity of content marketing--brands will need to come up with unique content that is compelling enough that their audience will want to share on their own account versus relying on earning shares through their own page updates.
Great Post Andrea. Some information as I imagined but now has completely clear where more focused on online marketing users are. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed the article, Ivan! I agree: Some ideas weren't unusual, but others - specifically Baby Boomers consuming the most content - were rather surprising.
Andrea,
Great post! I will try do use your tips. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed the post, Maria! I'm definitely trying to work as many of these tips as I can into our future campaigns.
This is really a very great post, thanks a lot for sharing it!!!
Thanks, Anubhav! Glad you enjoyed it, and I hope some of these tips help you in the future!
Thanks, Anubhav! Glad you enjoyed it, and I hope some of these tips help you in the future!
Thanks for the post with all of the nice graphs that summarize the information.
This is another article that reveals that most website visitors prefer short articles of about 300 words. I don't disagree with that. I like quick reads too. And, my complaint about great websites like the New York Times is that their articles are generally waaaayyy too long.
My experience as a webmaster (at least for the topic areas where I write) is that 300 word articles don't perform well in search. They rarely rank well for difficult queries unless they are on a domain with overwhelming power. On a site of medium strength they will probably not rank on the first page of Google for a competitive query and they don't have enough keyword diversity to pull lots of long tail traffic.
Maybe Google knows that people prefer quick reads, but that is not what their algos promote to top positions.
So, unless you have a really powerful site or a lot of traffic that arrives from sources other than search, a 300 word article written for competitive queries might not be profitable.
What do you think?
Interesting point! What I would consider when looking at our results is that respondents probably gave a rough estimate of a preferred length, so if your content was a little longer, I think they would still read it--and if this helps with the post's ranking, I would just make sure some of your key takeaways were bolded or higher up in your article. I definitely agree, though, to stay away from NY Times length--that is way too much text, especially when we are seeing a rise in mobile consumption. Again, great feedback!
Ya small content (near 300 words) really suffer in SERP. I think it should be rich with images and videos. That will give it a boost in user experience criteria.
Great feedback--especially since images and videos were the top shared content for all three generations.
Hello Andrea,
Thanks for that, great study. I'm surprised video doesn't rank higher as a most consumed content type, especially since video is apparently shared so often! What's the learning here? Create short, snappy videos?
I was just as surprised as you, John! It seems like my Facebook newsfeed is always flooded with videos--what might have happened in the data was that these videos were actually embedded in blog posts (hence the high preference for blogs). I definitely agree with you, though, that shorter videos are what consumers want--even shorter blog posts are preferred over longer reads. Again, great feedback!
This article is great! Thank you so much for sharing this info. I loved all the infographics, they make the article so fun to read
Thank you for the kind words, Vanessa! Seeing as how images were the second most preferred content type by all three generations, including the graphs seemed like the perfect way to elevate the article.
Andrea interesting study !!!
Seeing what you mention in your article, we can draw a content with which we try to absorb the maximum amount of customers, regardless of age.
As you said in the article, every age requires different ways to display our content and also have similarities. So the key is to create content that attracts attention. Above all, depending on the age, the content has to be interesting and be well written. If you have too many words, the end customer can lose interest, so you'll see normal for three generations prefer products in the same half of words (about 300 or so I feel great).
Good work!
Glad you enjoyed the research, Tino! And great feedback--I completely agree that above all, you want content that is interesting so that your audience feels compelled to share.
I found this article to be helpful and insightful. I work with a wide swath of business owners of all ages and figuring out the best ways to segment them can be challenging.
The part that stood out most for me was the "Most and Least Consumed Types of Content". It came as no surprise that blogs and images where #1 and #2 across all people but I'm really surprised to see ebooks there in the top 5. Does anyone have an success with ebooks? If so, do you mind sharing a little bit of what you do? I thought those died out years ago so I'd be really interested to learn more.
I'm also surprised that webinars are under the "least consumed" category since they tend to be so effective. I watch a couple of webinars a month, sometimes more if I'm considering purchasing a SaaS product. Perhaps people don't like taking 60 minutes out of their day?
Glad you enjoyed the article Hunter, and great feedback! I was just as surprised as your were about ebooks--perhaps because the questions were asked via survey, many respondents were associating ebooks with their entertainment value (I can't remember the last time I read a paperback book, but I use my Kindle daily). So it may not necessarily be a trend that affects marketing campaigns. I'd be interested to see, though, if you find anyone who could provide additional insight.
And the webinar result was surprising to me, too. Perhaps it has to do with the nature of our field--as marketers, it's an easy way for us to learn about the latest trends and for the hosts to reach a large audience. Maybe some industries still rely on something entirely different.
Again, great feedback, Hunter!
such a interesting facts and camparison.
Happy to hear someone found the key takeaways just as interesting as myself!
Interesting. This clearly shows the death-knell for Twitter.
Interesting point! I definitely think it shows why Twitter introduced something like Periscope--there is definitely an interest in video from all three generations. And it needs to continue the trend if it wants to remain competitive.
Great article.
This is further proof that our marketing strategy should focus on a target audience and do not shoot everybody. Success is not to reach everyone, but to get to the right people.
Greetings.
Couldn't have said it better myself--there is definitely more power in targeting the right people versus going after everyone all at once, so I think this is a great way to see key distinctions and similarities among all three generations. Great feedback!
Andrea,
Thanks for your great post ! I will try do use your tips. Thanks!
Glad you found the article helpful!
Thank you Andrea Lehr, for bringing this survey to us and also thanks to BuzzStaram and https://frac.tl/ for doing the survey.
This can be an excellent resource for brand or content creators. Now the content creators will ask the brands for the age group or generation they are targeting. According to that they will take decision what type of content they should deliver. They revealed few facts that are quite predictable such as every generation prefers Facebook for sharing, Millennials use smart phone or mobile device more, millennials like technology content much etc.
But i am surprised that Baby boomers don't like to read long blog or article. Rather Genx reads long articles than Baby boomers. I expected that Baby boomers have more patience that others.
This post has given me idea which type of content i should make for my brand. I will now experiment and see what happened next.
Great feedback! Gen X was definitely the generation that surprised me the most--it was interesting to see which genres they are most engaged in as well as their preference for social networks (highest for YouTube was particularly interesting). Again, glad you enjoyed the post!
Hi Andrea
Very interesting article . Funny how the milenias prefer shorter articles . I fear that they won't be interested in my long ones :-)
Thank you very much for the great article
Glad you liked the article, Javier! And I'm with you on the Millennials--I've got to make sure I keep the meat of my content at the top if I want to keep them interested!
Nicely elaborated Andrea, after reading your detailed post about reaching target audience in multiple generation I can still say Facebook is leading engagement platform regardless of the fact that they are continuously decreasing the reach for pages but that has not quite affected things as they are supposed to be.
Glad you enjoyed the article, Salman! I agree that Facebook will still remain as the strongest player in engagement. And although they are making posts made directly by a business a little bit harder to find, I actually think it will be more beneficial for a brand's post to be seen via a "like" by a friend--seems more authentic, increasing the likelihood that someone else will want to click on it. Again, great feedback!
Hi Andrea, What a brilliant article this is. I shall try and use these tips personally!
Thanks! I always appreciate positive feedback, and good luck with using these tips in practice--I hope they help!
Thanks for this, very useful for content planning. Looks like blogging is the way forward!
Glad you enjoyed the post, Toby! And I agree with you on blogging--I think audiences want to see content that has value, and maintaining a blog is a great way to do that.
Great article! I think actually seeing the statistics helps make the generational differences extremely clear. I do have a question: I noticed that your study did not discuss offline-to-online marketing. What about offline content that leads each of these generations to explore a content creator's business and online content? Here are some examples of what I am talking about: Billboards, Posters, Flyers and Direct Mailers - Good, old-fashioned offline content with easy to type or remember shortened, custom URLs. QR Codes - Scanning options that lead directly to specific online content. Many people believe QR codes are dead, but they are still in use in the United States and they are still having a huge impact in the foreign market -- especially in Asian countries. If a business has international customers, then QR codes are a necessity for generating interest overseas and among different generations of technology users. Interactive displays - Users find interesting offline content throughout interactive information zones on streets, subways areas, etc.
Glad you enjoyed the article, Todd! And I agree with you that I think QR codes are still valuable, especially in international markets where there might be a language barrier. What I think is important to keep in mind with any offline marketing, though, is to make sure it aligns with your online material--everything from colors to tone. They need to complement each other in order to ensure an increase in brand awareness. Great point!
Great stuff Andrea! On top of marketing we also have to consider designing for different generations as well.
Thanks for the positive feedback! And excellent point--I definitely agree that different generations prefer different aesthetics, as well.
Oh fantastic! love the idea of doing a comparative study. Good thing you came up with this, i must say this is helpful.great job!
Glad you enjoyed it--I always appreciate positive feedback!
Great post Andrea but visual contents are doing great rounds today. As human perception is more towards visual content many marketers are implementing videos in their homepage. Today many are giving preference to animated explainer videos.
Great point--I think when respondents listed 'blog articles' as the most consumed content type, they could've been referring to articles that include videos or other visual content. I definitely think including some visual element helps make content more appealing to your target audience!
Thanks for sharing. I am a bit surprised with the summary on most and least types of content. Always good to see what is working and what is not.
Thanks, Edwin! Some of the data surprised me, too--specifically how much content Baby Boomers consume.
I like the way
https://wwww.belloabito.com
Hey Andrea, this is an excellent article. I love a good data crunch. Awesome piece.
Thanks, Jamie! I always appreciate positive feedback!
Nice to be here. This is such an amazing information..
Glad you enjoyed it!
Newbie here. appreciate the article. Not agree that Facebook is the preferred for content sharing.Now its the time Google+
Happy to hear you enjoyed the post, and I definitely agree in diversifying where you earn your shares through social networks--Google+ definitely has prescence with Baby Boomers.
Wow! Great study with interesting results! It's really no surprise to see Millennials dominating mobile and their interest in the technology space.
It also continues to amaze me how Facebook is still the dominant social platform especially among Millennials. It would be interesting to see how sharing on social platforms might differ based on content genres.
Great feedback, Alex! I agree that Millennials and their addiction to mobile wasn't surprising--"mobilegeddon" is definitely the trend to keep an eye on. And interesting point about the various genres and which platforms are preferred for shares--we'll keep that in mind for upcoming research!
This is quite an insightful article and to tell you the truth, I was surprised to see baby boomers topping the list of content consumers. What I want to know is that with 'Mobilegedden' update by Google and millennials using mobile device more than the other groups, is there going to be a major change in content targetting in the coming months?
Baby Boomers consuming the most content was a surprise to me, too! And great point about retargeting--I definitely think if you're creating content aimed at Millennials, you'll want to consider their strong tendency for mobile and tailor your assets accordingly (e.g. make them shorter, make it easy to pull big data points quickly, etc.).
Love this article! I see a lot of talk about how the different generations consume content, but it's so nice to see some quantifiable data. I was surprised by a couple of things: 1) that Millennials use Facebook as much as other generations, and 2) that how much Millennials use their mobile devices vs other generations. Interesting stuff!
Glad you enjoyed the article! I thought the popularity of Facebook was surprising, too--I feel like I read articles daily about younger generations leaning more towards accounts like Instagram or SnapChat. The popularity of different genres/verticals by generation was also incredibly interesting to me.
Instagram and SnapChat arent really ideal for sharing stories just pictures. Facebook is still the Fastest and easiest to use.
Completely agree--I think it will still maintain its dominance because of how much a user can add in their own text when sharing a link (whereas a platform like Twitter limits total characters). I'm interested, though, to see where brands begin to take Instagram and SnapChat in the future!
Andrea,
The kind of work you guys are doing, I've become your fan. On one end, Kelsey Libert is providing us some great researches and especially the latest one with the collaboration of Moz and here you are.. :)
Andrea, could you please tell us about the language style's difference? I mean does the millennial more like to read Shakespears's kind of English or they prefer the modern's way ?
Glad you enjoyed the research, Umar! Although this project didn't look into differences within language style, we did put together a campaign that looks at this to some degree regarding email writing-style preferences. For example, younger generations are looking to sound smarter in their emails while older generations want to sound more authentic, which affects their writing styles. A surprising stat: Younger generations actually were more turned off by modern slang (e.g. TTYL, LOL, etc.) than older generations. You can find more information on that and other stats here. Hopefully these additional links help answer your question!
Thanks for the article! I write about seo and other subjects. In your opinion, what is the best social media channel to target millennials since they aren't on Facebook anymore?
Glad you enjoyed it! And I think that although they still share a lot on Facebook, I think the emerging platforms to keep an eye on for Millennial engagement are the three they surpassed every other generation on--Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Wonderful article and also an eye opener to many aspects of what makes certain content more powerful. The biggest take away was two fold for me. Finding out that baby boomers are the highest consumers does makes sense as that generation comes from the days of opening a newspaper and reading it front to back so seeking information and reading comes natural, and younger generations as myself are looking for a lot of information as quick as possible.
Also the preferred content length is a great tip as when writing for consumers, and I was surprised that the older generations prefer smaller articles and the gen x is looking for substance in length.
Great post and contribution to the community.
Really appreciate the kind words, Tim. And great insight on why Baby Boomers consume the most content! I haven't thought about that before, but it makes sense--older generations are used to investing more time into reading content while younger generations want key takeaways and are on to the next piece. And I agree about Gen X and content length--a few of their habits surprised me, like their lead in using YouTube and yet second place finish in sharing videos. Again, terrifiic feedback!
Thanks for sharing the article!Great article for understanding generation gap while catering content. Each generation have their own habits and taste so the technology. Millennials are the most tech-savvy and is most obvious but interesting point for me is that Baby Boomers are also consuming the online content in very good amount and have good grab on technology as well.
Glad you enjoyed the article, Deepak! I agree that it was surprising to see how Baby Boomers are consuming the most content online, and it seems like they just have a different preference for a "mobile" device than Millennials--they have a decent showing in tablet users.
Great information. Understanding your audience and their habits are very important to the success of any internet marketer.
Completely agree--and what's great is that there are some overlaps among all three generations, which can help you understand general online consumer behavior.
One of the best hidden gems in your superb article and research (nice graphics too!), Andrea was the fact that only 1% or less of users prefer the current trend of vertical "Parallax" scrolling to deliver content. I thought I was the only one on the planet that was driven nuts by it. Thank you for putting my mind at ease. It's the scourge of the current drive to "mobile up" (make Responsive) all content at the expense of the majority who still use Laptop & Desktops to access content. It's like the rest of us have been forgotten in the relentless drive for uber-Responsiveness whilst losing the degree of control that traditional sites have.
I was also intrigued by the results of the 300 words' optimal length of content. Our olde English teachers back in the school days would be rolling in their graves at "half at essay" (600-800 words used to be the norm). I would agree with other comments though that even though 300 words is certainly aimed at the quick dip the majority now want to consume content, at the expense of it not making a dent on Google positioning for the majority of sites.
Interesting point! I agree that parallax can be a bit overwhelming, so it wasn't too shocking to see that so few enjoy the content type. And as far as content length, 300 words can definitely be too short for some sites, but I think the bigger takeaway is to make sure your key points standout in longer form articles. Again, excellent feedback!
Really interesting post! the most surprising thing is that the most used social media plattform for millenials is Facebook, I thought they preferred Instagram!
That would've been my guess, too! They definitely have a hold on the platform, though, more so than other generations, so it's definitely a social network to keep in mind if Millennials are your target audience.
very interesting post Andrea! I will surely take this into account when creating content on the site. Cheers to you!
Thanks, Aaron! I'm definitely going to try and work some of these tips into our future campaigns as well to maximize our outreach efforts.
Hi, i am a newbie here and learning the useful tips posted by experts here. This post also is of some interest to me. Thanks.
Glad you found this post helpful!
It was like you were reading my mind. Great article Andrea!
Happy to hear you enjoyed the article, always love positive feedback!
Thanks for great and helpful tip
Happy to hear you found it helpful!