Honest teens spill the beans

From shunning anything in print to savvy ad-blocking skills, are teenagers single-handedly responsible for all of the media industry’s woes?

No, of course not. But you’d be forgiven for thinking so if you attended Media Playground 2016.

This week I had the privilege of co-hosting a panel of five teenagers with a combined age of Bob Dylan (75), who were there to give us an insight into their media and technology habits – and if their answers revealed anything, it’s that they’re way more clued up about media and advertising than most of us probably realised.

However, as a result, this tech- and social-savvy bunch are also becoming increasingly difficult to reach and engage as they realise they can choose exactly when to swipe left.

“I haven’t read one of those in years”

Newspapers might be having a bit of a tough time, but at least one of our panellists is putting them to use.

“I haven’t read a newspaper in years, but I did use them for my art GCSE as a bit of papier mâché,” said Frankie, 16. And who cares about declining circulation figures when you’ve got a giant papier mâché swan?

And when asked whether she thinks print is dead? “Maybe not for the older generation but for some of us younger generations.”

Unfortunately, exam sculpting isn’t print’s only enemy among Gen Z-ers.

“I’d never pay for news because there’s an abundance of free, quality news online – the Independent might put something up on Facebook so I’ll read that,” said 15-year-old Rex, while Jasper (14) said: “I like to tailor my own news feed so you don’t get the rest of the rubbish.”

Although if there’s one saving grace (perhaps), it’s that they’d rather get their free news from anywhere but the Sun.

“Some of the information [in the Sun] is not very believable…Every week or so, when I log on to social media, there will be a picture taking the mick because there are three or four things apologising for something they’ve said that wasn’t actually true.”

“I hate having the content shoved down my throat”

Like many of us, our Gen Z panel feel like they’re seeing too many irrelevant ads – and this is causing some of them to actively seek out the blockers.

“I use multiple ad-blockers on PC but not on mobile,” Rex said. “I hate having the content shoved down my throat – the vast majority of ads I see are ads that I don’t like.”

And when asked whether he felt the same about TV ads: “I’d watch them but only because I can’t be bothered to get up off the sofa”. (I don’t think that’s a generational issue, though.)

It’s not all doom and ad-blocking gloom for brands though.

Two of the panel, Frankie and Abbie (16 and 17, respectively), said they don’t actually mind advertising – as long as it’s for something they like, such as cat food – “because I really like cats”; while Jos, 13, said he doesn’t use ad-blockers “because I know it’s some of the ways YouTubers and companies get their money.” (We double checked, and no one blackmailed him to giving this answer.)

Three-second rule

As attention spans continue to wane, how can brands ever hope to engage our panel of young people?

According to Rex: “Capturing the viewers’ eye in the first three seconds [of a video] is really important – I will actually watch the whole ad if my eye is caught in those first few seconds.”

Similarly, Jasper said: “If I do see a video I’ll look at it for a couple of seconds without sound and if it looks alright I’ll watch it with sound – otherwise I’ll turn the video off.”

And the best way for brands to reach them? Sorry Thinkbox, but this one goes to YouTube.