Behind The Numbers: How Gen Alpha Is Spending Their Digital Time and Where They Are Heading Next | Feb 10, 2025
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Did you know 70% of CMOs are now responsible for steering their company's AI initiatives? Find out what it takes to be a successful CMO in this new AI-powered era of marketing. Download their playbook, Driving Growth in the AI Era, exclusively from Zeta Global. Link in the show notes. Hey gang, it's February 10th, Powell...

It's also Monday. That's what I usually tell people. But you know that because it's today. Unless you're listening to it another time and then it's whatever day you're listening to it on.

hideous introduction. Paola, Jenny and listeners, welcome to Behind the Numbers, the marketer video podcast made possible by Zeta Global. I'm Marcus and today we'll be discussing little people, Gen Alpha, the littlest of generations and what's going on with those folks. But today I'm joined for the conversation by two people. Let's meet them. We start with our analyst based in New York. It's Paola Flores Marquez.

Hi Marcus, thank you for inviting me. Of course, thank you for being here. We're also joined by our vice president of all the research, also living in New York, it's Jennifer Pearson. Hi, thanks for having me. Okay, today's fact, where did Braille come from?

So Braille, universally accepted system of writing used by and for people who are blind. It consists of a code of 63 characters, each made up of one to six raised dots arranged in a six position matrix or cell. And these Braille characters are embossed in lines on paper and read by passing your fingers lightly over the manuscript.

According to Britannica, Louis Braille, who was blinded at the age of three, invented the system in 1824 whilst he was a student at the National Institute for Blind Children in Paris. Remarkable. What a contribution. Just amazing. And three such young age. I don't know when he exactly invented it.

Hope he wasn't three. Marcus, I thought this was going to be a trivia question. I was so ready. Oh, sorry. I think. Oh, should I have asked? Wait, should I have asked? You were going to guess who invented... Yeah, I thought it was a game. You did ask, I think. Sorry. I did ask, but I don't want to put you on the spot because then...

Who knows? Everyone wants it to be. Susie was asking me today. She was like, bring the games back. I'm like, settle down, Susie. Okay? You get out of control when we make it a competition. And Paolo as well, apparently. You work with a bunch of people who analyze data for a living. Like, this is exciting for us. Next time, a real question with a game. I promise. Sorry about that. Gave you the answer. Anyway, today's real topic, Gen Alpha. Gen Alpha is who we're discussing today.

What does that mean? Let's start with that. Jenny, who are Gen Alpha?

Sure. They're children, ages 1 to 12. And this is our new eMarketer definition this year. So born in 2013 to 2024. And I'll give a sneak peek. Our forecasts are going to break out this generation starting in a couple months. You'll see it with some YouTube forecasts, some CTV forecasts, and eventually our social forecasts. So hot off the press. Very nice. So last year,

Sarah Lebo, who hosts the Reimagined Retail Show. She pointed out that Gen Alpha was the second digitally native generation after Gen Z. But I feel like Gen Alpha, they're hyper digitally native because Gen Z kids, a lot of them, especially the older ones, had older millennial siblings. These are now like entirely digitally native kid households per se. And also, Paolo, the iPad kids are

is another name for them, correct? - Yeah, yeah. The first generation to grow up with iPads is like a readily available piece of technology. And so it's kind of, they actually have higher rates of iPad usage than the general population because it's something that the parents can monitor, they can access their favorite apps on it, you can put games on it and like it's mobile, which is really helpful to parents when they're on the move. Yeah.

So the iPad kids, Gen Alpha, we know what ages they are. But how many of them are there, Jenny? Is it a kind of slice of the world, of the population? How big is this group? Yeah, about 14% of the population right now are ages 1 to 12. So a pretty sizable group. Sizable, I believe, is it Gen...

and millennials about 20, 21%. And then the older ones, they're a little bit smaller than that. So it's sizable, but they're not quite yet kind of rivaling those other generations for size. - Right. - Yeah. - Yeah. Go ahead. - Oh, sorry. I was gonna say like, yeah, they're gonna be pretty small based on our parameters just because

Yeah, I mean, populations are brand new. And based on our parameters, they're done being born. So like, this is all the gen alphas we have there here on the planet right now. Oh, interesting. Okay. Oh, this is because you said one to 12. And I was gonna say, Oh, what if you're six months old? I didn't realize but I didn't know if it was zero up. But you're saying that every kid born, who basically anyone who's younger than one is gen beta? That's what we're going with. Interesting. Yeah.

It's an interesting time. So boomers, for example, were nearly 20 years of a generation. Well, X was about 15 years. So why the change? Yeah. We had a couple conversations about this, and Pau, jump in any time, but technology is advancing. And so a lot of the generational milestones are tied to technological advancements. And so this iPad generation, for example, we're also –

tying to the emergence of generative AI. And so this 2024 end date, and this could change, we're going to monitor this, but we're assigning this 2024 end date as that's the big uptake of gen AI. And that's what we've seen as

So technology is speeding up and that is informing a lot of this shorter generation size or smaller generation sizes. Yeah. The pandemic also plays a role in this, right? Like it's such a major world event that completely like marked their childhoods and like is very impactful. So it's kind of a combination of like the technology and like what are the...

big cultural events that tie them together that will form like a sort of collective memory for all of them. Yeah. Yeah. Anyone born after won't know worlds where they had to go home and weren't allowed to go to school for a few years. A very different upbringing, I'm sure. Right. And also force them on devices. Yeah.

And that became cemented in there every day. That's a great point. Fascinating. OK, so that's the generation. They're very online. We said how many of them are using iPads or tablets? I should say I think it's like 59% of them using tablets. So a lot of them using those devices. 75% of the whole group is online, though. Basically everyone but babies. And sometimes when they're screaming, the babies. But what are they doing online?

what are the most popular places, pal, that Gen and Alpha are spending their digital time?

YouTube. Oh my God, it's YouTube. It's like, yeah, I cannot overstate how popular YouTube is with this generation. YouTube Kids? YouTube, the main app? Both? I think it might be both, right? Like, I think when they're being monitored, it's YouTube Kids. But as they get older and they get more permission and more independence and they get smarter on like how to bypass a lot of like safety features. Right. Yeah, just general YouTube. And so, and like a lot of their parents are also cord cutters. Yeah.

So like they're not growing up with as much of the linear cable TV as like previous generations as well. And then we spoke about like the mobile aspect, right? That it's easy to take on the go. Millennial parents, correct? Millennial parents. By and large, I mean, yep.

Yeah, yeah. We'll talk about that a little bit in the gaming report. But yeah, that's going to be fun. Everybody look out for that. But yeah, it's predominantly millennial parents who are just kind of passing on a lot of these digital habits that they grew up with. But like YouTube also offers a lot of content that's kind of

I guess it offers like a sense of independence too for these kids who are often at the time exploring the boundaries of what they can do and can't do. And so they know how to navigate a YouTube like search browser. They know how to find the things that they love. Like they're very intuitive. They're smart and like their brains are nice and fresh so they can absorb a lot of information very quickly. Yeah. How does, go on Jenny.

I was going to say, I think just what Pal was saying, I also think it cultivates a more niche preference, for example. So if a child is into Minecraft, they might be able to then go down the Minecraft rabbit hole on YouTube and feed them more and more about YouTube and different gaming techniques and styles. So I think it's a challenge.

It's a decent shift in the entertainment landscape as in a child is can get really niche and specialized in a certain topic and YouTube allows for that. And I think the decline of linear TV among children is yeah, so interesting. What are they which platform or media channel are they on more? Is it are they on YouTube more? Are they on TV watching TV more?

I think it's, it's, YouTube is about to overtake linear TV. Um, they are streaming a lot as well, so we can't discount streaming, but when we're looking at like traditional television, like compared to kids who grew up with like Disney channel and cartoon network, right? Like, um, we expect YouTube to overtake, uh,

um, linear TV by like 2020, like pretty much in the next year or so. Wow. Okay. Yeah. And so, yeah, we're seeing a rise. Like we've already seen this with Gen Z where they have a preference for user generated content, but it's becoming even more concentrated with YouTube as Jenny was saying, like, they're not just watching content that's like traditional, like just professionally produced or like meant for immediate consumption. They're watching content about

the content, right? Like they're watching like really like sort of niche parodies and like they're watching like

yeah skits or sketches um about like their favorite sort of aspects but so yeah that's one there's like uh also a lot of unboxing videos that they really love like there's a lot of um educational videos like miss rachel is huge right and she just got like a major sort of mainstream contract um and she kind of like exploded in popularity during the pandemic because of the pandemic um so that's also where we see youtube sort of gaining a bigger foothold um in households

But it also kind of depends on like the age of Gen Alpha, right? So younger Gen Alpha is going to be more based on what their parents were looking for. And it's going to be more nursery rhymes and like educational videos and really soft sort of sweet things. And then the older you get with Gen Alpha, you start seeing like, like we said, like the Minecraft stuff, but also in Fortnite stuff, which is huge with them, which we mentioned in the report.

And Mr. Beast is massive, like huge, huge, huge. When it's not, Mr. Beast is not like a...

a channel that's specifically tailored to children like it doesn't market itself that way but the way in which he's like sort of understood the algorithm and how to market his videos um has really struck a chord with children and it's like the most popular um personality on like youtube at the moment not just with kids but particularly with kids even though it's not meant for them that's quite a different type of content isn't it because i mean jenny it used to be that people

People moved from watching sports and news and films or whatever on cable to watching sports and news and films on streaming. With kids, it seems like they're not just watching the kind of the Nickelodeon or the Cartoon Network that they're watching on traditional TV. The type of content they're watching is much more creator heavy.

Yeah, definitely. And that is a big shift. And just as Pau noted, maybe the age dictates some of this. So in the younger years, we'll see even on YouTube watching established programming, like trying to get free clips of Bluey or Peppa Pig.

pig or and so some of the viewing habits are rooted in the traditional narrative but then kind of moving to where they're spending all their time which is YouTube so and then as they age up then yes what you just said Marcus just getting into these more niche creator driven produce content yeah yeah I think it's really important to know that there it's not like they're out of the loop on like what the mainstream cartoons are like they do know them they're just access their entry point to them is different and

And so there's a really great article by Kayla Cobb that talked about, there's a really great quote in there that was like, it isn't linear versus streaming versus YouTube versus social. It's linear plus streaming, plus social, plus gaming, plus YouTube. So a lot of these like mainstream traditional TV platforms

organizations are starting to lean on platforms that they used to see as rivals for attention and instead sort of folding them into their strategy on how do we like promote these these these episodes because they're not I mean you can't access the full episode on YouTube but you can get little clips and compilations and those are incredibly popular because kids love repetition right and they love like they're moving really their attention span is moving really quickly so it's perfect for them yeah

So as you mentioned, YouTube likely to, according to our estimates, overtake TV viewership next year for Gen Alpha. That's total people. Time spent as well, I was looking at that. That also kind of starting to see that tipping point. You see time spent watching TV versus, I don't know, even just in the past five years, kids' TV time gone for about two hours, so closer to one. And then you see the reversal of that trend increase

happening in terms of YouTube time going up. What's interesting as well, though, is YouTube, it is a trend that's happening, that's influencing Gen Alpha, but it's also, I mean, YouTube has been consuming more and more of everyone's, every generation's time. YouTube responsible now for 10% of all

everyone's all ages people's TV time according to Nielsen Netflix for context is 8% so it is something that's hitting all generations no more so than Gen Alpha it seems you also mentioned in your research on this latest research pal that you just published gaming also a big deal tell us a bit more about that

Yeah, we use Roblox as the main example in that section because it is incredibly popular with Gen Alpha, but it's not just Roblox. There are so many other games like Subway Surfers and Minecraft is still popular. But yeah, Roblox is really interesting because it's not just one single like one world game the way that you would think of like games in the 90s, right? Where it's like Zelda is like one journey that you finish. It is like...

a platform where people can create their own mini games inside of this universe. And like, there are all these different doors where kids can go in and like based on their preferences. And so it is really versatile in that way.

And it's created these sort of like hangout spaces for Gen Alpha that kind of supplement playgrounds in a way. Not completely, obviously. People still go outside. But it is increasingly a space for digital socialization in a way that I think is pretty novel. And we saw it with Gen Z, right, especially because of the pandemic. And they're super into collaborative shooting games, etc.

that you can mod and stuff like that. And, but I think it is going to be a hallmark for Gen Alpha as they get older. Yeah. You made an excellent point, which was, um,

their comfortability with this platform indicating potentially future interest in more immersive technologies. Yeah, I think that the earlier they start using it and the more they can visualize it, the better they're going to feel like exploring new avenues. Yeah, AR, VR. Yeah, we didn't have a lot of room to include that in the report because there is a word count limit, but we're already seeing a greater degree of...

AR and VR usage by Gen Z, and it's just growing with each generation. So I think we can expect that from Gen Alpha as well. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I think it's become a social, it's a conversation starter and a social currency that has kind of made its way into their real life, into their everyday life, into conversations. I mean, that's true for all children across the years is that what they're watching, what they're listening to becomes part of their social conversation. But for this generation, it is that conversation.

that gaming space, the YouTube realm. Yeah. And a lot of them, about half of kids under 12, digital gamers, particularly as you said, Roblox, which has exploded in popularity. It may seem like every kid's always been playing Roblox, but at the start of the pandemic, about a third. Now about two thirds. So it has gone up quite significantly. Okay, so we've got YouTube. We've got...

digital gaming. But, but Powell, you write that Gen Alpha's world, even though it centers around YouTube, you say that's the case for now. What's coming? We do see TikTok sort of waiting in the wings, like a lot of Gen Alpha, or I guess I shouldn't say a lot of Gen Alpha because I don't think that, not that I don't think,

Our forecast doesn't indicate that the entire generation is on social media, at least not at the rate that others are. They're still children and they're being monitored and they're likely using these platforms through their parents. And additionally, there are age restrictions that not everyone abides by, but for the most part are still pretty, they do present like a bit of a roadblock. Yeah.

Because it's supposed to be 13 years old. Correct. So legally, in theory, no one in general should be on these platforms, but they are. Yeah, yeah. I mean, their parents hand in their phone or like, you know, they find ways. People lie. Like, you know, everyone who's a millennial definitely was like, are you over 18? And we're like, yeah, of course we are. Yeah.

We see TikTok waiting in the wings because as like sort of the next sort of realm that they're going to start exploring once they do get their phones. And as we were talking about earlier, like they start getting their phones between the ages of 10 and 14. So they start getting their own accounts. They start exploring more. And but if TikTok doesn't isn't the one. Right. Like if something happens to TikTok in the next couple of years, then.

YouTube Shorts is actually sort of like pretty popular amongst Gen Alpha, which I think makes sense because much like Gen Z was looking for their own social space to sort of carve out for themselves away from millennials Instagram and like Facebook.

Gen Alpha is also seeking that sort of space. So shorts could be a potential candidate for that. And they're also just spending so much time on YouTube already that they feel incredibly comfortable with the platform. So why leave if everything that you are seeking is already there? Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Yeah. Looking ahead, I'll be curious to see where the next platform, for example, Mr. Beast signed something with Amazon Prime, Prime Video. Will the audience go there? They watch him on YouTube. Will they move over to Prime Video to see this creator that they're really into? And that'll be an exclusive? Yeah.

Or are you saying if he starts putting content out on there? I think he has. He has like the MrBeast games. Okay. I don't know if that's the exact title for it, but yeah, they're like a competition game, which are very much in the vein of a lot of his videos. Yeah. Yeah. That's a fascinating question though, Jenny. Yeah. If the creator moves, how tied are...

the generation to the platform. Yeah, but it's hard because I mean this might be like a tangent but it's been really hard for Twitch streamers to move out of Twitch. It's been much easier for YouTubers to like switch to a platform where their people follow them. So yeah, it definitely is like a, it doesn't have stickiness to it.

So let's talk a bit about the advertising side of this to close out the episode. So last summer, Peter Adams of Marketing Dive wrote that Jen Alpha's technology sophistication would challenge brand strategies as the rising generation puts less stock in celebrity endorsements and quality advertising and preferring content creators, as we've been talking about, and enablers of

creativity numerator saying, uh, parents with kids 11 to 14 say influencers are one of the two top ways they learn about new products. Uh, the first is from their friends. Uh, he was explaining that Jen Alpha does not put much stock in athletes or celebrities and has a particular, uh, particularly low opinion of what they call people on TV. Uh,

air quotes, a group that stood among the top three least trustworthy assessed by the age set, according to a survey from Razorfish and GWI. Instead, Gen Alpha values content creators and is engaged in

edutainment contents. However, he says, just because they are furiously digitally native folks shouldn't forget that the number two most popular way Gen Z discovers new brands is through in-person interactions in places like stores and malls whilst they're there with their parents, which I think is an important takeaway. So that's one takeaway for marketers is that these are these

this generation is attracted to more to creators less so to traditional kind of like celebrities and the types of content that has resonated well with the previous generations. Paola, what's one takeaway for advertisers from you? I think one of the biggest ones is that don't assume that Gen Alpha is a carbon copy of Gen Z. Don't assume that. Yeah, they have different tastes. They have different sense of humor.

And like you said, they are moving away from a lot of those traditional media forms, even more so than Gen Z. And so I think that we should rethink their relationship with media completely and sort of like sort of try to

come at it from like a user-generated perspective instead. Yeah, that's a great point. And there's a bit of evidence to support your point because you could easily think young people, the young people, they're all digital. They all consume content at the same rate. Some of the types of content, not at all. There's really large differences in terms of the types of content they're consuming. Gen Alpha devoting nearly 80% of their screen time to watching video on social media. That's a much higher share than Gen Z. It's about 56%.

to Mavericks Insights and Strategy and Hub Entertainment Research. So I think that's a great one. Jenny, how about for you? What do you think of when you think about advertisers and Gen Alpha?

Yeah, I'll keep an eye on as this generation ages into their teen years. I think that's where the autonomy is solidified and individual tastes rather than influencing parents to purchase. They're going to have their own purchase habits. And I'll be curious to see where those go. Is it going to be so fragmented like YouTube is?

and the way they've been consuming media, where will they look to get inspired and think about what they want to purchase. I want to end with this. I thought this was fascinating because I've always wondered how influential are kids on their parents' purchasing decisions. Yes, they can nag them in the store. We've all seen that. Sometimes a parent caves and is like, fine, whatever.

but sometimes they don't. I wondered kind of how often does that happen? How often does the kids, whether they're being nice about it or a nightmare, influence the parents' purchasing decisions? And it seems like kids have a pretty significant influence over the things their parents buy. Grocery requests was the most heeded with about half of parents buying the exact grocery products their child requests, according to Kantar. The grocery category is also the most asked for by kids. But Jenny, any thoughts on that?

Yeah, I think some of it is apparent is soliciting advice. What will you eat is kind of baseline. And then I think, yeah, there's...

There's so much to choose from. So having their, they're probably, and in some cases, grocery shopping with them. So I think that it's just natural to have that feedback loop. Yeah. And it seems like they share the purchase decision. There's different elements that they influence. For example, grocery items, flavors, colors,

shapes they kind of both have a say in parents are the main influencer in terms of the brands and the package size as well so about half of Gen Alpha parents have a shared shopping list for their households that their kids can contribute to which I thought was quite interesting alright folks that's where we'll leave the conversation about the young people today thank you so much to my guests for chatting with me thank you so much to Paola thank you so much Marcus absolutely and to Jenny

Thank you. Yes, indeed. And thank you to the whole editing crew, Victoria, John Lance and Danny. Stuart runs the team and Sophie does our social media. Thanks to everyone for listening to Behind the Numbers, an e-marketer video podcast made possible by Zeta Global. You can tune in Wednesday to hang out with Sarah Lebo and the Retail Gang as they'll be discussing Sam's Club.