Content across Generations - How to Appeal to All Ages

Understand what types of content appeal to different age groups.

It may seem that Millennials are the most online generation, but research shows that Baby Boomers consume more content. That’s primarily because the Baby Boomers are a larger generation, but Millennials are catching up. When looking at how different generations consume content online, we find specific similarities and differences that can help you create more focused and targeted content, or appeal to a broader audience.

Survey Reveals Generational Differences

In a survey by BuzzStream 1,200 individuals across these three generations expressed their content preferences. Content is measured in time - how long an individual spends looking at or reading content online. The study showed that about 12 percent of Millennials and Gen-Xers spend between five and ten hours a week consuming content. By contrast, over 25 percent of Baby Boomers consume more than 20 hours of content a week.

Timing is an important factor as well. For instance, more than a third of all respondents consume content in the evening, between 8 pm and midnight. But nearly 40 percent of Baby Boomers are active online between 5 am and midday. Not surprisingly, late at night is the least likely time for all of the generations to be online.

When looking at how these groups access content, we find that among those who use mobile as their primary access point, half are Millennials. Forty percent of those who primarily use tablets to access the web are Baby Boomers. Gen-Xers are much less fond of tablets, with only eight percent using them as primary devices.

Some Preferences are Universal

Despite these differing preferences, some things are the same across generations. In fact, all generations rate blog articles, images, comments and eBooks as their preferred types of online content. At the same time, flipbooks, SlideShares, webinars and white papers are least preferred among the masses.

Gen-Xers and Millennials like quizzes a lot, listing them in the top five types of content they enjoy. All generations prefer content with about 300 words. Millennials may have a reputation for short attention spans, but Baby Boomers prefer the shortest content at 200 words. Gen-Xers enjoy longer pieces, those over 500 words. The same 200-word articles that Baby Boomers enjoy the most are disliked the most by Gen Xers.

In subject matter, we find wide variations in preference among the generations. Baby Boomers want to read about world news and politics. Millennials are into tech, and Gen-Xers lie somewhere between, leaning toward personal finance, parenting and healthy living.

For years, we’ve been hearing that Millennials don’t use Facebook, but this survey begs to differ. It’s the top sharing platform among all three generations, second even to YouTube, but the type of content shared on Facebook differs by generation. Baby Boomers are attracted to images and videos. Millennials like memes and GIFs. Gen-Xers, once again fall somewhere between.

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