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Deloitte Study on Gen Z viewing habits

Yeah, I know this is "General Radio Topics", but there's stuff to learn and extrapolate from here:

With the cost of big ticket items (houses and cars) continuing to rise faster than inflation, other costs paid by both Zs and Millenials were going to have to go down. On the bright side, though, this could be good news for broadcast simulcast streamers--assuming they can find a way to control the cost of streaming copyrighted materials.
 
With the cost of big ticket items (houses and cars) continuing to rise faster than inflation, other costs paid by both Zs and Millenials were going to have to go down. On the bright side, though, this could be good news for broadcast simulcast streamers--assuming they can find a way to control the cost of streaming copyrighted materials.
Any initiative on that front would have to come from Big Music -- labels, publishers, etc. Fat chance of that happening. Big Music requests an increase every year and that request is rubber stamped "OK" every single time.
 
With the cost of big ticket items (houses and cars) continuing to rise faster than inflation, other costs paid by both Zs and Millenials were going to have to go down. On the bright side, though, this could be good news for broadcast simulcast streamers--assuming they can find a way to control the cost of streaming copyrighted materials.
I don't see how cost of living would explain what appears to be a change in taste on the part of the Gen Z audience -- after all, plenty of "big budget" entertainment is available at no cost to the viewer in the form of both broadcast TV and ad-supported streaming video services. So Gen Z viewers are "social and creator-driven content" because that is what actually interests them. And perhaps it makes sense for a generation that chose to watch "unboxing videos" when they were kids.
 
The sad part is that a lot of these "content creators" have no training or experience and at best are harmlessly ignorant and at worst, actually spread false information or harmful trends. Not to mention the psychological impacts of sudden wealth on some of these younger "personalities." There's something to be said for having structure and systems. When anyone can be the media, the overall quality seems to decrease. Which creates a conundrum - the more junk people consume, the worse their health is, mentally and physically. But because it's what they want, it keeps getting fed to them and the healthier alternatives get pushed aside, and defunded.
 
The sad part is that a lot of these "content creators" have no training or experience and at best are harmlessly ignorant and at worst, actually spread false information or harmful trends.

They may start out that way, but money and experience does a lot to help professionalize the product. I was following "Ryan's World," which began as two parents doing a home-brew YouTube video show featuring their 4 year old son Ryan. That show has become a multi-million dollar enterprise with its own clothing and toy line at major stores. It all came from the money they made from YouTube. Social media companies PAY content creators. If your video goes viral, you make tons of money. A lot of college kids graduate with degrees in video production and become free lance content creators. This is why radio stations find it hard to hire talent for low salaries. They make more creating their own content on social media.

To broaden this even wider, the music industry is using amateur videos to discover new artists to sign for record label deals. The music you hear on the radio is now part of the overall artist strategy that begins with videos on social media, that are then pitched to radio. Part of the sales pitch to radio is the numbers they get on social media. If an artist is attracting a billion views, perhaps it could resonate with the radio audience. The next step is for radio to test the songs, and see what response they get. So yes, there are parallels with what you see with Gen Z in video and what they like on the radio.
 
Possibly related, I was listening to a dance music station in New Zealand. Their playlist of currents is on Spotify and I noticed the first batch of tracks I listened to seemed very short. Averaging around two minutes. I realized this is probably because the dance music producers are keeping these in mind as being potentially used in reels/social videos. They’re not as interested in songcraft as utility.

It wasn’t all bad but I can’t say I think it’s ideal for the long term health of music. What happens when AI figures out how to do all this? Those creators better have invested their money well and have stopped blowing it on sports cars.
 
The music you hear on the radio is now part of the overall artist strategy that begins with videos on social media, that are then pitched to radio. Part of the sales pitch to radio is the numbers they get on social media. If an artist is attracting a billion views, perhaps it could resonate with the radio audience. The next step is for radio to test the songs, and see what response they get.
Keep in mind that radio d ones not test songs until they have played them many times for their audience.

Stations may look at all the streaming data, but they don’t know if any of tha t comes from their own core listeners.
 
Possibly related, I was listening to a dance music station in New Zealand. Their playlist of currents is on Spotify and I noticed the first batch of tracks I listened to seemed very short. Averaging around two minutes. I realized this is probably because the dance music producers are keeping these in mind as being potentially used in reels/social videos. They’re not as interested in songcraft as utility.

That's nothing new. Music was being composed for such incidental -- but lucrative -- uses as video game soundtracks and ring tones three decades ago. And there's no reason AI can't do this, or compose long-form music (such as hit songs) either. The early results may be clumsy and lacking in quality, but remember, AI learns.
 
I noticed the first batch of tracks I listened to seemed very short. Averaging around two minutes. I realized this is probably because the dance music producers are keeping these in mind as being potentially used in reels/social videos. They’re not as interested in songcraft as utility.

TikTok pays creators too. So some labels are actually making stems of songs available to creators so they can use them in TikToks.

Stations may look at all the streaming data, but they don’t know if any of tha t comes from their own core listeners.

Correct. I was at a seminar where Spotify said a song was among their top testers, while iHeart said the same song was among their worst.

One specific example is Zach Bryan. His music tests well for Spotify and not for broadcast. What they found was his audience is young men, and they aren't core to the broadcast country format.

We can see this in print every week as we compare the Billboard Hot Country chart with the Country Airplay chart. Two very different things.
 
To broaden this even wider, the music industry is using amateur videos to discover new artists to sign for record label deals. The music you hear on the radio is now part of the overall artist strategy that begins with videos on social media, that are then pitched to radio. Part of the sales pitch to radio is the numbers they get on social media. If an artist is attracting a billion views, perhaps it could resonate with the radio audience. The next step is for radio to test the songs, and see what response they get. So yes, there are parallels with what you see with Gen Z in video and what they like on the radio.
That's been going on a long time, Justin Bieber got his first record deal based on his Youtube singing videos in 2008.
 
That's been going on a long time, Justin Bieber got his first record deal based on his Youtube singing videos in 2008.

Same with Kane Brown. But the social media situation has grown to where its way bigger than where it was 15 years ago.

It also makes the radio programming job more complicated, because radio can't just pull audio from social media and put it on the air. It has to be licensed for broadcast so the composers get paid.
 
That's been going on a long time, Justin Bieber got his first record deal based on his Youtube singing videos in 2008.
Colbie Caillat, too, although I think she may have been on MySpace, as it was that long ago. Of course, being the entitled daughter of a well-connected record producer, she was born on third base and thought she'd hit a triple.
 
This is nothing to worry about. Tik Tok, like Vine and other video apps are fads. People years from now will still watch movies and tv shows. Companies have gotten significantly younger by distributing content on streaming platforms - all which you can get on your phone as well.
 
The sad part is that a lot of these "content creators" have no training or experience and at best are harmlessly ignorant and at worst, actually spread false information or harmful trends. Not to mention the psychological impacts of sudden wealth on some of these younger "personalities." There's something to be said for having structure and systems. When anyone can be the media, the overall quality seems to decrease. Which creates a conundrum - the more junk people consume, the worse their health is, mentally and physically. But because it's what they want, it keeps getting fed to them and the healthier alternatives get pushed aside, and defunded.
Welcome to the future, and the future is now. It's not going to change, except AI will take the place of many of the content creator's creations, and it will also take the place of many content creators themselves.

Most of the new content creators don't need 'training' or experience. A lot of them are consumers of content similar to what they produce and consequently they are very savvy at production, and the fact that one no longer needs a video camera the size of a kitchen stove (like the kind needed in 1964) to make decent video content, and video editing tools are ubiquitous and cheap, only makes it easier for the content creators to make decent product with a minimum of 'training' or education about video production. All they need, really, is a good smartphone.

I've seen TikTok and Instagram clips that were just a man or a woman with an Iphone in their car, talking about whatever -- they didn't even need a light ring or any special background -- and the clips have hundreds of thousands of views.

No training necessary.

As for the massive amount of content on the net, that is not going to change, ever. With AI starting to get thrown into the mix, the amount of content will just multiply. As with all content, there are a handful (i.e. hundreds) of winners and more numerous (i.e., millions) losers whose content sees a handful of clicks before it gets lost in the vast internet static.
 
I think they weren't born in an era where there was much "must see TV" as by the '10s it was already more fragmented than it was before, so they may not have had the shared experience of watching TV that millennial and older generations from like before 2013 or so.
 
I think they weren't born in an era where there was much "must see TV" as by the '10s it was already more fragmented than it was before, so they may not have had the shared experience of watching TV that millennial and older generations from like before 2013 or so.
This generation doesn’t watch TV. They watch YouTube and TicTok.
 
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