The Fluid Nature Of Gen Y's Media Habits

[Commentary] Media habits change as people move through different life stages, and these changes impact how people choose to interact with brands.

Teens tend to be heavy media users into all things digital. Despite their heavy use of texting for socializing, teens are more likely to make purchases influenced by traditional channels like TV commercials (62%), catalogs (55%) and email (36%). College students live highly compartmentalized media lives. Average media exposure is generally lower than commonly believed, primarily due to less-than-average time spent watching TV. Upon first entering the workforce, media habits change again. These consumers are the more likely to have made purchases directly influenced by social media (15%). Young homemakers are primarily concerned with caring for their families. As such, they tend to be much more reliant on direct mail and other traditional marketing channels compared to other Gen Y subgroups.