Young people prefer video games to movies

(ETX Daily Up) – The battle for youth attention continues on platforms. And it would seem that video games appeal more to millennials and Zs than movies. According to a report made in the United States, these two generations spend more time on a game console than in front of a feature film.

According to YPulse’s Gaming Report, 95% of Gen Z and millennials surveyed play video games, 78% of them weekly or more often. Playing therefore remains an extremely popular activity among young people. Some even spend more time playing console video games than watching a movie. In a sample of approximately 1,500 Americans ages 13 to 39 surveyed in November 2022, respondents said they spent 7 hours a week playing console video games compared to 6 hours a week watching movies. If cinema does not seem to have conquered young people, television remains in the hearts of generations Y and Z who spend an average of 8 hours a week watching TV series and programmes.

Upon closer inspection, we note that Generation Z young people are even more addicted to computer games than their elders, the millennials. The latter are also more likely to watch movies than to play computer games, dedicating 6 hours and 5 hours respectively to these activities. Not so for the Zs who spend the same number of hours on it, according to the report. Also in this case a distinction must be made between playing video games for consoles, more common among young people with an average of 7 hours a week, and computer games.

Even if television is far from dead for young people, the fact remains that this occupation is often interspersed with other activities. In fact, YPulse’s TV and Entertainment report shows that 71% of young people engage in other activities while watching TV, such as playing online games.

Platforms have understood the appeal of video games among young people. And to keep capturing their online time, Netflix has also developed many games on its platform. TikTok, for its part, tickles the gamer side of its users thanks to its interactive filters, not to mention the lives which, like on Twitch, allow internet users to follow gamers in the middle of a game, a way to play by proxy.