Advertising and marketing agency, cmb, has commissioned a survey on media consumption in Trinidad and Tobago. Guardian Media Ltd, the media group with the most comprehensive mix of advertising solutions in the country, has partnered with cmb for a series of reports on the survey’s findings to help businesses in T&T identify the best way to market their products and services.
Millennials and Generation Z are transforming media consumption patterns in T&T, leading the shift from traditional media platforms to digital, with an emphasis on social media; television, however, continues to be an important source of information, especially for news, a new survey from advertising and marketing communications agency cmb shows.
These groups, which range from 15-24 for Gen Z and 18-35 for millennials, make up the largest age demographic in T&T, according to the latest census data, as well as the biggest chunk of the country’s labour force.
The survey, commissioned by cmb and conducted by data analytics firms Lucent Research Ltd and Sacoda Serv Ltd, featured interviews with over 900 people from demographics that best reflected census data.
Facebook was the most popular medium for millennials, with 57.3 per cent of respondents naming their most noticed media, but traditional media powerhouses, television (48.8 per cent) and radio (39 per cent), still managed to maintain a stronghold.
As a preferred news source, however, television proved to be most trusted, with 53 per cent of choosing the platform over Facebook (26.8 per cent); newspapers had a surprisingly strong showing as a news source, with nearly a quarter of millennials (23.3 per cent) naming it among their top news sources.
Generation Z also overwhelmingly chose television as their preferred news source, but that was the only traditional media format placing among the favourites of youngest set of consumers. Facebook dominated the field among Gen Z, scoring 61.4 per cent as the most noticed media, followed by television, with online (excluding social media) came in at 34.1 per cent.
While there are no exact parameters defining when a generation begins or ends, millennials are generally classified as those born between 1980 and 2000, and Generation Z as those born from the mid 1990s to now. Both these demographics, however, are unique to their predecessors because of the ubiquity of the internet for much if not all of their lives.
Understanding their media consumption trends can help advertising and marketing executives tap into a receptive market that is evolving right along with the technology that their world depends on, creating content that reaches them where they are—in primarily digital spaces.
Eighty-two per cent of millennials have Facebook accounts, and 51 per cent have Instagram; 80 per cent of Gen Z have Facebook and nearly 57 per cent have Instagram.
Over 60 per cent of people 18-34 said they went online daily, and over 95 per cent said they went online in the last week. A social media presence is all but imperative for brands to reach potential customers, interacting with them in an organic way, with messages integrated within these platforms.
Interestingly, for all their time spent online—especially via smartphones— 24.3 per cent of millennials and 26.8 per cent of gen Z did not have mobile data plans, while 51 per cent of both groups had pre-paid data plans. Internet surfing and social networking instead took place via home Wi-Fi connections, work or free mobile internet hotspots.
For traditional media, 38.4 per cent of television watchers were between 20-34 years old; only 9.8 per cent were between 15 and 19 years old. Following an almost identical trend, 38 per cent of radio listeners were between 20-34 years, while 9.2 per cent were 15-19 years old. Thirty-eight per cent of newspaper readers were also between 20-34 years, but just 6.3 per cent of 15-19 year olds.
It is, however, important to note that because of the population distribution, the millennial generation continues to remain the highest demographic of traditional media consumers— something any comprehensive media strategy needs to consider. Depending on a company’s strategic goals, brands can leverage the advantage of both traditional and digital media since each offers its own strength in the context of marketing objectives.
The millennial/gen Z shift towards digital does not have to mean an abandonment of traditional platforms.
Marketers and advertisers thus require accurate and up-to-date data and analysis that will help them fully process a strategy that synergises the best of both elements to interest and engage their target audiences.
