Future. Gen Z is always blowing up their Screen Time… but on different screens at different parts of the day. Specifically, the type of content watched seemingly gets longer and more professional as the day goes on. Knowing what type of content is watched when may help marketers, brands, and studios better strategize how to best capture the generation’s elusive attention.

Morning TikToks, night Netflix
According to research firm Rhyme & Reason, Gen Z spends an average of 7.2 hours a day watching something — that’s nearly half of their waking hours.

• But what they’re watching changes throughout the day:
  • TikTok or Reels in the morning
  • YouTube during the day
  • And a streamer like Netflix or Hulu in the evening
• Also, the amount of each of these formats is different: 59% of what Gen Z watches is something long-form like a movie, TV show, or sports game.
• And 48% of what they watch is from creators who wouldn’t be considered traditionally “professional.”

Me and all my screens
While your first reaction may be, “whoa, Gen Z is leading the charge in our transition to user-generated, short-form everything,” that’s not actually true. In Deloitte’s recent media trends survey, 57% of Gen Z-ers said they spend more time watching movies or shows. But 60% of Millennials said they spend more time doing that.

So, is Gen Z reversing course? It might be that Gen Z is becoming the first generation to let both kinds of content exist in balance. It’s just all entertainment that’s “keeping you company,” says Laura Vanison, senior director of consumer and artist insights at Vevo.

For example, while scrolling TikTok may be competing with that new episode of Euphoria, Gen Z-ers are just watching that episode of Euphoria, then posting about it on TikTok, which leads more people to watch that episode… and then the cycle repeats itself.