Relating to and connecting with teens\u2014the core of Gen Z\u2014can be confusing. For marketers, reaching this cohort starts with understanding how and where teens spend their time<\/a>.<\/p>\n Smartphones reign supreme<\/strong><\/p>\n Teens are all about staying connected, and smartphones make it easy\u2014especially as the age at which children and teens get these devices continues to trend downward.<\/p>\n We previously estimated that in 2013, just 49.6% of all 12- to 17-year-olds had a smartphone. In 2020, that figure will jump to 83.2%. A March 2019 survey by\u00a0Comparitech<\/a>\u00a0found that 73.0% of parents said their kids had a smartphone by ages 11 to 13, and 31.0% said their kids had one between ages 6 and 10.<\/p>\n Phones are the first sense of freedom a teen likely enjoys, so it\u2019s no surprise that they rank the device as their favorite form of technology. According to a January 2019 report by marketing agency\u00a0Fuse<\/a>, nearly half (48%) of teens surveyed cited mobile phones as their favorite technology, topping gaming (27%) and social media (20%).<\/p>\n Less Impressive Are Wearables and Voice Assistants<\/strong><\/p>\n Knowing nothing other than constant connectivity, teens\u2014true digital natives\u2014are perhaps less impressionable than older generations when it comes to new gadgets or features.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re surrounded by technology, stuff is being introduced on a weekly basis,” said Bill Carter, a partner at Fuse. “They see it, and it\u2019s just not all that impressive to them.\u201d<\/p>\n Low wearable penetration among teens illustrates their less-than-impressed mindset. We estimate that just 14.7% of those ages 12 to 17 will be smart wearable users in 2020, compared with 36.0% of those 18 to 24 and 38.2% of those 25 to 34. Lower penetration is also likely influenced by parental reluctance to buy more than one pricey device for their teens.<\/p>\n Similarly, just 18.6% of 12- to 17-year-olds will be smart speaker users this year\u2014less than half the levels among those ages 18 to 24 (35.1%) and 25 to 34 (42.5%). Just 36.4% of 12-to-17s will be voice assistant users vs. more than half of 18-to-34s.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not seeing the value in certain kinds of technology that other consumer groups and age cohorts are,\u201d Carter said. Citing new voice technology as an example, he added that there are \u201cnot that many use cases for it to actually make their life any easier.\u201d<\/p>\n How Much Time Is Spent Online?<\/strong><\/p>\n Almost all US teens are internet users; we forecast that 97.4% of 12- to 17-year-olds will use the internet at least once a month in 2020. But that doesn\u2019t mean that all their time is spent online (at least not according to teens themselves, who may not be the most reliable judges when it comes to how much time they really spend online).<\/p>\n And contrary to what older folks may think, teens aren\u2019t just spending time “Snapchatting” friends or scrolling through Instagram. In polling for a 2019 report by the\u00a0Girl Scout Research Institute<\/a>, 68% of girls and 59% of boys ages 11 to 17 endorsed the statement, \u201cI have discovered a new talent or interest [by exploring online].\u201d And 60% of girls and 51% of boys agreed that they are \u201cmore connected to social issues and causes [because of the internet].\u201d<\/p>\n YouTube and Netflix Top Charts with Teens<\/strong><\/p>\n On whatever device they\u2019re using, teens are big on video. We estimate that 93.7% of 12- to 17-year-olds in the US will be digital video viewers in 2020.<\/p>\n YouTube is a mainstay of teens\u2019 digital activities. March 2019 polling by the\u00a0National Research Group<\/a>\u00a0(NRG) identified 92% of 13- to 17-year-olds as weekly viewers. And in the fall 2019 edition of\u00a0Piper Jaffray’s<\/a>\u00a0twice-yearly \u201cTaking Stock with Teens\u201d polling, the average share of time teens spent with YouTube (37%) edged past that of Netflix (35%) for the first time since at least fall 2017.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe YouTube offers a much wider scope of content that is of interest to teens, including music videos, video game streaming, celebrity streaming and other user-generated content,\u201d said Mike Olson, managing director and senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray.<\/p>\n But Netflix remains a major presence for teens, as 71% of US internet users ages 13 to 17 reported viewing the platform on a weekly basis, according to the NRG report.<\/p>\n TV Still Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n Amid all of this digital usage, it is easy to overlook traditional media like TV, but the time teens spend in front of the television isn\u2019t negligible.<\/p>\n We estimate that 12- to 17-year-olds will average roughly 81 minutes per day watching TV in 2020, 10 minutes fewer than that of 2019.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ceo-na.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ee.png\")
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