Best Practices For Brands—

Top 12 Things
Brands Need
to Know to Meet
Gen Z Expectations

Generation Z (or Gen Z for short) refers to the generation that was born between 1997-2012, following millennials. The Gen Z population currently has purchasing power worth $143 billion.

How Well Do You Know Your Gen Z Demographics?

Meet Generation Z: A whole new generation of influencers. Check out 12 facts below for brands to understand how they can meet Gen Z expectations in the real world.

Gen Z vs. The World

How much of the global population does Generation Z represent?

  • 51%
  • 42%
  • 33%
  • 25%
Hover or click to reveal answer!
33%
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Gen Zers Are From All Around the Globe

1 out of 3

Gen Z kids are immigrants themselves or have parents who moved to another country.

Inclusive marketing is more than just a buzzword, and that's also true for digital advertising. Brands who embrace diversity in their campaigns, content, and hiring practices, while representing a wide range of races, genders, orientations, and abilities can more effectively tap into the Gen Z market.

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Gen Z is More
Diverse Than Ever

Generation Z is the most racially and ethnically diverse age group in the United States.

In comparison, currently 61% of US millennials identify themselves as white while for Gen Zers, this percentage amounts to 52%.

Therefore, almost half of the Gen Z generation identify as non-white, but rather black, Asian, Hispanic, and American Indian.

Millennial
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61%
Gen Z
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52%
Identifies as white

Gen Z Consumers Demand Action

50% of Gen Z consumers

expect the companies they buy from to support the causes they care about, they are looking for more ongoing action, advocacy, and inclusion.

For more information about how to target Gen Z audiences through programmatic advertising, check out our Custom PMPs!

Gen Z PMP Opportunities →
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50%

How Brands Can Reach Gen Z

Not surprisingly, 60% of Gen Zers said their brand loyalty has changed since the pandemic.

Gender Equality
is Important

77% of Gen Zers

feel more positive towards brands that promote gender equality on social media.

Gen Z is set to become the largest population on our planet, and they will not tolerate inequity of any kind. For Generation Z, equity is the norm, not a “perk” nor a “nice to have.” Brands must think of these concepts when delivering their advertising campaigns.

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Gen Z Viewing & Shopping Behaviors

50% of consumers aged 18-24...

Gen Z consumers are more likely to buy sustainable, high-quality, products, and even more likely to make a purchase if they identify with the brand.

With the rise in popularity of Tiktok, gaming and social platforms, as well as the influencer culture, brand spokespeople and representatives must diversify and represent a variety of identity groups.

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...Are more likely to watch content featuring someone from their identity group.

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...Are more likely to buy products from brands that advertise on content featuring someone from their identity group.

How Much Do
They Spend?

How many more dollars per year would Gen Zers be willing to spend on brands they trust?

  • $200
  • $1,000
  • $10,000
  • No more than now
Hover or click to reveal answer!
$10,000
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Uniquely Built For Gen Z Behaviors & Preferences

Discover how Sharethrough products are built to make sure all of your video ads are “readable”.

Gen Z Are Heavy Mobile Video Consumers

Gen Z are described as digital junkies. In fact, the majority (95%) own smartphones. Sharethrough conducted a study amongst Gen Z consumers:

71% of Gen Zers watch videos on theirr mobile devices daily, vs. 52% on TV and 45% on computer. Not surprisingly, 74% of Gen Zers watch more than 30 minutes of mobile video per day.

Learn More →
71%
Mobile
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52%
TV
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45%
Computer
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They Don’t Like
Being Interrupted

80% of Gen Zers take out their phone or other device during TV commercial breaks.

90% of Gen Zers skip pre-roll video ads.

If they can’t skip, 55% of Gen Zers switch tabs or windows during pre-roll ads.

Discover Recent Research by Sharethrough:

Gen Z Behaviors During TV Commercial BreaksVideo Consumption Behaviors
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80%
Take Out Mobile
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90%
Skip Ads
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55%
Switch Tabs

Gen Zers Are Willing to Scan QR Codes

84% would scan a QR code of a relevant TV ad.

Sharethrough launched first-to-market product CTV Dynamic QR Codes, generating 12% increase in attention. Learn more about how QR Codes can improve attention & effectiveness of Connected TV ads.

CTV Dynamic QR Codes →
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Videos Are Usually Played on Mute

Gen Zers watch videos on mute, to the point now where people expect videos on all devices to have captions.

74% usually watch mobile videos on mute.
41% usually watch computer videos on mute.

Learn More →
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74%
on Mute
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41%
on Mute

They Prefer Videos With Headlines

84% look at the headline space first when watching videos.

Sharethrough’s TrueTemplate™ Technology adds headlines or captions to the headline space of a video.

Sharethrough’s Dynamic Video Captions product automatically inserts captions below the headlines space, increasing comprehension by 56%.

Dynamic Video Captions →
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