The best platform to reach Gen Z (people born between 1997-2012) is YouTube, not TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center’s “Teens, Social Media and Technology 2022” report.
As LinkedIn user Eric Swayne wrote this week, that has huge implications for marketers. Some of the findings include:
- 95 percent of teens say they have used YouTube, compared to 67 percent who say they have used TikTok.
- 1 in 5 teens say they use YouTube “almost constantly.”
- Across genders, races, age groups, and household incomes, YouTube is the most commonly used app.
This suggests that YouTube ads and a brand presence on the platform are more important than on TikTok. While popular TikTok accounts are dominated by videos shot with a smartphone, most successful YouTube accounts feature broadcast production quality. (YouTube shorts could change that, though.)
Since 72 percent of Gen Z is involved in their household’s purchasing decisions by their parents, brands would be smart to invest in YouTube. According to the same article, “the spending power of Gen Z customers is valued at $144 billion. On average, teenagers influence their parents to spend more than $600 billion per year globally.”
Speaking of popular YouTube accounts, 4 out of 5 of the most viewed YouTube channels last week were children’s channels. Cocomelon Nursery Rhymes came in at no. 1, followed by the LeoNata family, Alan Chikin Chow, Kids Diana Show, and Like Nastya.
The most-viewed channels are those that appeal to young kids (AKA Generation Alpha), which could mean that these kids prefer YouTube as a platform, or it could mean that their parents are frequently using YouTube to entertain them and the kids don’t have much say.
Snap Slashes Staff
After a spring full of new hires and initiatives, Snap Inc.—the parent company of Snapchat—announced Wednesday that they will be laying off 20 percent of their staff. That amounts to 1,200 of their 6,400 employees.
Like Twitter, Snap lost a significant amount of its digital ad revenue after Apple added privacy changes last year that made it harder for platforms to track ad performance. Additionally, the company is grappling with inflation and an economic slowdown.
sources of big tech revenue
Apple, Amazon, Google (parent company: Alphabet), Meta, and Microsoft accumulated $1.4 trillion in revenue last year. The Visual Capitalist published a series of charts showing where that money comes from.
The two big takeaways are:
1) Big tech generates revenue by either selling you a product or selling you to advertisers as the product.
2) The pandemic sped up revenue growth for big tech.
new ig reels features
The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, regularly takes to Twitter to announce Instagram updates. Earlier this month, he announced several new reels features.
Instagram continues to try to compete with TikTok via reels but is still lagging behind for now.
“Emerging TikTok influencers earned around 18% more engagement compared to other social media platforms. Instagram Reels statistically grew engagement rates within the app by 22%. However, Instagram’s overall engagement rate lags behind, with growing Instagram influencers only gaining 3.86%.”
-Geri Mileva of Influencer Marketing Hub
Jumping on each planet
Last up, we wanted to share our favorite video of the week. We love how this visually contextualizes gravity on each planet.
That’s all for this week‘s Marketing Roundup. Check back next week for more news. And subscribe to our newsletter below for additional updates.
