Millennials Don't Mind Commercials, But Register Low Ad Engagement

by Wayne Friedman , March 2, 2017

Millennial media consumers have no problem with advertising, especially if the content is free. But looking deeper, they are paying less attention to the ads.

Some 51% of 18-24 strongly or somewhat agree with the statement “I’m okay with ads if content is free” when it comes to their mobile content, according to a Nielsen Millennial study. Another 17% strongly or somewhat disagree with this.

Slightly older media consumers -- ages 25-35 -- are a little less supportive, with 46% strongly or somewhat agreeing with the advertising for free content, while; 23% disagree.

Traditional TV advertising for Millennials seemingly also has good results. When it comes to traditional TV, Nielsen says less than 2% of 18- to- 34-year-olds changed the channel during commercials, compared with 5.5% of 35- to-54-year-olds and more than 8% of viewers 55+.

But all this comes with some heavy distraction -- perhaps multitasking with other devices. Nielsen says Millennials have “the lowest program engagement and lowest ad memorability scores during the studied shows.”

First-quarter 2016 results still show strong traditional TV weekly usage among adults 18-34 -- 66% of their weekly video time minutes. Connected TV gets 23% of that time, with 8% for laptop/desktop computers, 2% for smartphones, and 1% for tablets.

advertising, content, engagement, millennials, research, tv

2 comments about "Millennials Don't Mind Commercials, But Register Low Ad Engagement ".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, March 3, 2017 at 1:24 p.m.
Wayne, the studied shows, according to Nielsen, were eight premiere episodes of primetime programs in the fall of 2015---I assume of broadcast network fare. I doubt that the findings about dial switching during commercials---based on this small sample of probably atypical program content----projects to TV as a whole----but I could be wrong. If it does apply generally---according to Nielsen---and young people do the least dial switching during ads while oldsters do the most, I would find this not only surprising but difficult to believe.
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Becarren Schultz from Ameritest, March 4, 2017 at 9:29 a.m.

If you've ever sat and observed anyone under the age of 30 as they are exposed to advertising-based content, it's easy to see this is an accurate summary of the audience's engagement factor. They are fully in charge at all times of filtering out what they're not interested in.