Who’s more famous: NBA superstar LeBron James or the Swedish YouTube personality known as PewDiePie?
While the response to that question probably seems obvious, a new study indicates that the answer can be vastly different depending upon the age of the respondent.
According to the study from research firm Morning Consult, Gen Z and millennial consumers were surveyed in order to determine how they felt about influencers, determining that 88 per cent of those surveyed stated it was important to them that influencers genuinely care about their interests.
One of the most interesting findings to emerge from the study has to do with differing attitudes toward celebrity between millennials (defined as those aged 23-38) and Gen Z (13-22). For example, while both PewDiePie and James have an identical level of name recognition (95 per cent) with Gen Z males, PewDiePie is viewed more favourably than James.
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While older demographics are less aware of YouTube and social media personalities, this is not the case when Gen Z, particularly with females. As the study points out, both Beyonce and Zendaya had the highest favourability and name-recognition ratings with females aged 13-22, but YouTuber Shane Dawson rated higher than both Serena Williams and Jennifer Aniston.
Morning Consult’s study is based on more than 2,000 survey interviews with Americans between 13-38.
