#Hailthedrum: ‘Keep up with Gen Z – they’re defining the future of the web,’ advises Yahoo head of research
We often hear about Generation X and Y, but it is ‘Gen-Z’ that marketers really need to be keeping an eye on says Yahoo’s head of research, Patrick Houihan.
Explaining exactly who falls under the Gen-Z category, Hourihan said: “This audience have grown up with the internet, they haven’t known the world without it. There’s no other demographic that are using digital in the same way. They are the driving force behind why digital is changing so fast.”
Hourihan’s comments came as The Drum took him to an Advertising Week Europe session in the back of its branded taxi cab.
He went on to advise brands to keep a finger on the pulse of this demographic.
“They are the first true digital natives and they’re a little bit less brand loyal so it means you have to work harder for them. It is about keeping up with this audience because they are defining the future of the web.”
Hourihan also said that video is an area that, if they aren’t already, brands need to look at investing in.
“A third of the country watching some form of digital video content every day.The ad spend in video, already at £300m, is going to get to £1.2bn by 2017. It’s a very short space of time to see that number growing that fast. And the reason for that is that brands understand there is a huge opportunity here and what we’ve found from our research is that the opportunity is really around that short form content.”
He praised the likes of Fox Entertainment, saying that the Wolverine six-second trailer which was seeded in Vine “was a really good example of taking a new consumer format that people are engaging with and putting advertising content in that space for people to engage with.”
Hourihan also spoke about how genre is driving viewing behaviour and what he believes the impact of Wearables to be.
This interview is part of the #Hailthedrum series conducted during Advertising Week Europe, which will run on The Drum website over the coming weeks. You can view previous videos featuring the likes of Krishnan Guru Murthy, Chuck Porter and Nigel Morris here.
The 'Hail The Drum' series was produced in partnership with Hailo and Media Agency Group. The wrap for the taxi was courtesy of Media Agency Group.