Join us Dec. 1-3 in New Orleans for the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit
Gen Z viewers aren’t watching TV, but their video-watching habits are very TV-like
One way to peek at the future of TV is to look at what today’s teens and twentysomethings are — and are not — watching. And one place to survey that landscape is VidCon, the annual Comic-Con-like event for the digital video industry.
There are seemingly more options than ever for video audiences — as covered in the video below, featuring interviews with more than two dozen VidCon attendees — but Gen Z viewers’ attentions seem to have consolidated to three primary platforms: YouTube, TikTok and Twitch. By contrast, this audience isn’t really tuning into traditional TV and some aren’t even watching streaming services like Netflix.
What’s funny about these viewers not really watching traditional TV or even traditional streaming services is the way they watch platforms like YouTube, Twitch and even TikTok is often pretty similar to how previous generations watched traditional TV: something to play in the background while doing other tasks.
More in Future of TV
Future of TV Briefing: YouTube’s dynamic brand insertions could unlock the upfront market for creators
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how YouTube’s plan to enable creators to swap out sponsored segments normally baked into their videos may be the most disruptive development in the creator economy in 2026.
Future of TV Briefing: The ad product OpenAI should introduce in Sora (I’m sorry)
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how OpenAI could create a commercial version of Sora’s Cameos feature that could thread the needle between a sponsored product, affiliate commerce and a revenue-sharing program for creators.
The Sora-TikTok U.S. era of short-form video
Digiday senior platforms reporter Krystal Scanlon joined the Digiday Podcast to discuss the state of the short-form video market as all-AI entrants like OpenAI’s Sora and Meta’s Vibes enter the fray.