Dive Brief:

• Forrester made its The State Of Consumers And Technology: Benchmark 2017, U.S. report available to Marketing Dive with results including that 94% of 18 to 29-year-olds watch some form of online TV, making them the only demographic that prefers online streaming over offline TV viewing. The same group is the only demographic to be more likely to make purchases from a mobile device than a tablet.
• The 30-39 year old demographic was cited as the prime target for marketers as they spent an average of $840 in online purchases over the last three months. This demographic is also the only group to be more likely to engage with branded social media posts rather than avoiding them, and is considered the early adopters of new technology.
• Among older demographics, 40 to 49-year-olds are typically average users of technologies including mobile, online shopping and experimenting with new payment methods; 50 to 64-year-olds engage in online shopping, but lag the younger groups in technology use; and those 65 and older are most likely to avoid ads across mediums and have the highest levels of not valuing technology or demanding digital engagement.

Dive Insight:

Overall the results of the report are likely intuitive for most marketers, although the findings that people in their 30s were the only group to be most likely to engage with branded social media might come as some surprise and is a data point marketers might want to keep in mind when planning social media strategies.

With all the focus on streaming content, marketers looking to reach a wide range of age groups should take into account that, out of the 18-29 age group, a lot of consumers still prefer TV. 

Media consumption in an average week was fairly high across all media types including 80% of all U.S. adults read media content online weekly, 86% watch TV, film or video offline, and 82% listen to the radio offline weekly. Going deeper into media consumption, every group but 65 and older read more online content than offline content weekly, 18 to 39-year-olds watched more video content online, and only 18 to 29-year-olds listened to more radio online.

Among social media and streaming platforms, Facebook was most popular with 73% of all U.S. adults visiting the site at least monthly, followed by YouTube at 64%, Netflix at 46%, Instagram at 31%, Twitter at 29% and Pinterest at 26%. Sixty-nine percent of U.S. adults access social media sites on a smartphone weekly.