Digital disruption has changed the way youth consume media

Today’s youth audiences choose to engage with media platforms that provide them with useful content that adds value to their everyday lives. As a result authentic content has become an important connection between brands and the youth and is ultimately the deciding factor in terms of whether a brand remains relevant in their lives, or becomes irrelevant. These were some of the observations from a panel discussion, moderated by Cliff Central’s Siya Sangweni, that took place at the Sunday Times Generation Next Conference last week in Johannesburg. Social media has improved the relationship between consumers, brands and media as it has provided audiences with choice in terms of who they want to follow, maintained CliffCentral’s Gareth Cliff. He added that using demographics as a way to segment audiences is an “ugly hangover” from the days when people were characterised by race, gender and wealth and which still today create an unconscious bias. Thandi Ngwenya, Chief Marketing Officer a...