Gen-Z Now Largest Single Population Segment

According to Nielsen’s new Total Audience report, Millennials and Gen-Z now comprise 48 percent of the total media audience. Gen-Z in particular is now the single largest audience segment at 26 percent.

Because members of Gen-Z are different in key ways from millennials, the demographic shift holds some implications for brands and retail marketers. Gen-Z is defined as those born between 1997 and 2015. The oldest members of the generation are now 20. The oldest millennials are now 37.

While members of Gen-Z look like millennials from an overall device ownership perspective, there are a few key differences. According to Nielsen, they watch less conventional and DVR-based TV than earlier generations. They also spend far less time accessing the internet via PCs than older groups.

Millennials and Baby Boomers spent on average 1:02 hours accessing the internet over a PC on a daily basis in the first quarter of 2017. Gen X spent about 1:20, according to the report. By contrast, Gen-Z spent eight minutes per day online via PC. The vast majority of their online time is spent on mobile devices.