The Top 5 Digital Media Marketing Trends in 2024 for Gen Z and Millennials Show a Streaming ‘Crisis,’ the Power of Fandom and Much More

At Variety’s 2024 Entertainment Marketing Summit, Andrew Wallenstein, president and chief media analyst of Variety Intelligence Platform, sat down with Jana Arbanas, vice chair and Deloitte‘s US Telecom, Media, and Entertainment sector leader, to discuss the background and themes of Deloitte’s annual digital media trends.

This year was Deloitte’s 18th year of the Gen Z and Millennial survey. The survey analyzes over 3,500 consumers from ages 14 and up and is then sent back to the United States Census Bureau to obtain a real representative look at consumer behavior.

Five different themes emerging from digital media this year include a crossroads moment for streamers, how social media influencers are driving engagement with TV shows, films, and video games, the lack of women in gaming, the untapped potential of fandom, and the diversification of the American audience.

According to Arbanas, on average, people spend around $61 a month, and over a third of customers feel the content they’re paying for isn’t worth it. How companies are fighting this is by introducing ad-supported tiers. “It’s getting really expensive,” she said. “I personally feel streamers are in a crisis state in terms of consumer engagement and they really need to change things or risk losing consumers to other forms of entertainment.”

When it comes to gaming, Arbanas said harassment and bullying is the biggest threat this platform faces. But she sees a more positive trends in the power of emerging fandoms and diversifying audience, which is particularly strong among younger demographics.

“People are seeing diversity in social media and they want to see that representation on the bigger screen,” said Arbanas. “In particular that’s something younger generations are expecting to see on the screen but behind the screen. They want to see content that is written and produced by diverse people.”

The pair then discussed what Arbanas’ predictions were for the future of media and entertainment; she envisions the convergence of a social media and streaming platform that brings together preference for TV shows, shorter videos and music in a way could do away with having to subscribe to multiple services individually. “I believe that in the next couple of years, there’s going to be a killer platform that’s going to come together that’s going to be hyper-personalized to me,” she said.