CULTURE NEXT

How Millennials and Gen Zs Are Redefining Digital Audio

Every year, Spotify embarks on a journey to learn more about some of our most influential listeners and creators: Gen Zs and millennials. The result is Culture Next, Spotify Advertising’s annual study into the listening habits and preferences of these groups, aged 15-25 and 26-40, respectively. 

This year, we learned that Gen Z and millennial creators and listeners are as obsessed with digital audio (and Spotify, of course) . . . as we are with them. And while these generations’ differences have launched a million memes (middle part vs. side part, anyone?), their similarities speak volumes as they navigate a common challenge: rebuilding culture from the ground up.

Check it out:

To create this issue of Culture Next, Spotify conducted a combination of qualitative, quantitative, and first-party data analysis. We surveyed 9,000 Gen Z and millennial respondents in April 2021 across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, the U.K, India, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, the U.A.E., Thailand, and Malaysia. 

We also partnered with youth culture agency Archrival to conduct Zoom focus groups featuring 40 in-depth interviews and a dozen ethnographies with more than four dozen respondents in 16 markets. We combined these with conversations with artists, podcasters, and advertising industry thought leaders, as well as with Spotify’s own unique Streaming Intelligence and first-party data. 

To read the report in full and dive into more findings—including recommendations for marketers looking to connect with Gen Z and millennial listeners—visit ads.spotify.com.