302. YPulse. All About Tweens.
MaryLeigh Bliss
March 21, 2024
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In today's digital age, understanding tween behaviors is crucial for marketers seeking to connect with this influential demographic. Because of the legal regulations put into place to protect young children, direct surveys of 8–12-year-olds are challenging to conduct. As a result, there hasn’t been any robust survey data available – until now.
Joining us to explore this topic is MaryLeigh Bliss, Chief Content Officer at YPulse, a leading authority on Gen Z and millennial opinions and behaviors. Their latest report is based on a research survey they conducted directly with tweens, aged eight to twelve, and it provides valuable insights into this cohort’s habits, interests, and preferences.
Tweens represent a dynamic and digitally savvy demographic whose behaviors and preferences offer valuable insights for marketers and parents alike. By understanding and their evolving opinions and behaviors, stakeholders can effectively navigate this unique stage of development and prepare for the future landscape shaped by today's tweens.
Topics Discussed Include:
Digital Natives: Tweens have been born into a technologically advanced world, have never known life without smartphones, YouTube, or on-demand streaming services like Netflix, setting a unique baseline for their expectations and shaping their worldview.
Pandemic Impact: When you only have 3 – 7 years of coherent memory, two years of pandemic represents 29% - 67% of your entire life. Today’s tween lives, and important formative years, have been dominated by the crisis.
Social Media Usage: Despite the rules prohibiting it and parental concerns about screen time, tweens spend considerable time on social media, with over half using platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. Parents actively supervise online activities, but balancing monitoring with agency remains a challenge.
Influencer Influence: Influencers wield significant influence over tweens, with 91% expressing interest in products recommended by online celebrities. Millennial parents acknowledge their children's sway over purchasing decisions, reflecting a generational alignment in understanding.
Gaming Culture Gaming is a prevalent activity among tweens and a significant portion engage in virtual worlds like Roblox and Fortnite. Parents actively participate in gaming with their children, making it a bonding activity.
Must Be Mobile: Brands aiming to connect with tweens must prioritize mobile-first strategies, leveraging platforms like TikTok and gaming environments to engage with this demographic effectively.
YPulse is the leading authority on Millennials and Gen Z: tweens, teens, college students and young adults. They provide strategic insight to companies and organizations via their subscription-based syndicated research content as well as their custom research and consulting services. Staffed with a cross-functional team of researchers, marketers, writers, and technologists, they give their clients a 360-degree view of what it’s like to be a Millennial or Gen Z today.
As Chief Content Officer, MaryLeigh Bliss oversees YPulse’s syndicated products. Her role also involves acting as a culture and youth insights expert, consulting with brands to identify actionable insights, align young consumer strategy, and layer generational and youth knowledge over data findings.
MaryLeigh has worked with a range of brands, including Facebook, Hampton, Bravo, HBO, Target, Best Buy, and Gap, and has been quoted as a youth insights authority by publications including The New York Times, Digiday, Business Insider, and Adweek. She has appeared as a Gen Z and Millennial expert on Bloomberg News, Fortune, and NPR Marketplace, and been a speaker at many off-sites and conferences. MaryLeigh’s interest in youth culture originated from her love of YA literature and pop culture anthropology, and she is continuing her passion for decoding and demystifying the next generations of consumers at YPulse.
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MaryLeigh Bliss
YPulse