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A common topic of discussion for publishers is young people and what we need to do to create content that they might like. The outcome is almost always a hilariously wrong approach to reaching young people.
So in this 26-page Plus article, let's take a closer look at the younger generation, and talk about some of the things publishers do wrong, and some things that work. But mostly, let's talk about the overall trends and patterns that define the younger demographic.
Let's start by changing some overall assumptions.
Please note: In this article, I will be massively generalizing the difference between young and old. I'm not doing this to stereotype, but to better help you understand some of the overall patterns. Obviously, you can't just divide people by age. There are old people who behave like young people, and there are young people who behave like old people.
In fact, one of the first things you learn in fashion (where I started my career before moving into media) is that age is not about how old people are, but instead how old people want to feel.
If you, for instance, design a fashion line for 'young women in their early 20s', the people who actually end up buying it are either teenagers who want to feel older, or people in their 30s who want to feel younger, but the people who are actually in their early 20s are probably buying something else.
So don't think about age as a number. And please keep this in mind when you read this article.
But now let's talk about what defines the younger generation.
One of the fundamental problems with how the media is talking about young people is that we are too focused on platforms or formats, rather than on what young people actually want.
For instance, we see how publishers start a newspaper for young people by putting it on Facebook, or by creating a channel on Snapchat.
Similarly, publishers are way too focused on the wrong type of moment. Instead of creating a moment of value, we create moments of shallow interactions.
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Baekdal Plus is your premium destination for trends and analysis for the media industry. Every year you get 25 reports about the future media trends, business and editorial strategies, monetization analysis and insights about how to use analytics specifically for publishers.
As a subscriber, you also get full access to all the Plus reports (more than 200) published over the past 8 years, as well as the ability to share what you read.
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Founder, media analyst, author, and publisher. Follow on Twitter
"Thomas Baekdal is one of Scandinavia's most sought-after experts in the digitization of media companies. He has made himself known for his analysis of how digitization has changed the way we consume media."
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