Each day, fewer than one in three young people watch free-to-air TV, local on demand sites or listen to the radio. The Detail's Sarah Robson looks at why the traditional media platforms are struggling to attract younger audiences.
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Screenshot of Shit You Should Care About Instagram account Photo: Provided
The days of sitting down in front of the TV with your parents to watch the 6'oclock news are long gone, and the migration of younger kiwis to the digital giants is accelerating.
That's one of the stark findings of NZ On Air's youth audiences research, which surveyed 15-to-24-year-olds about their media consumption habits.
The most popular local media platform? TVNZ came in at a quite distant eighth, behind YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Netflix, TikTok and Snapchat.
The Spinoff founder and senior writer Duncan Greive says those big technology platforms "own the attention of young New Zealanders".
"It's quite obvious looking at it, and looking at the longitudinal trends, to say that this just is not going to change, we have to adapt to that."
It means the likes of TVNZ and RNZ are competing with those big technology platforms - with audiences numbering in the millions, if not billions - to provide content that informs and entertains.
But it is not a level playing field: RNZ, TVNZ and other media organisations have to make sure what they carry is factually correct and they have to comply with standards set by the Media Council or Broadcasting Standards Authority.
User-generated content - the stuff you see on social media - doesn't.
While going up against the international giants is not for the faint hearted there are youth-focused platforms striving to entertain and inform, without losing sight of what's factually correct.
Lucy Blakiston is the co-founder of Shit You Should Care About (SYSCA) - a Gen Z-run news, pop culture, technology "and everything else you might want to care about" platform.
They're not a traditional media outlet and don't have a publication as such: there's a daily newsletter, two podcasts and a big social media presence.
"I wake up each morning at 5am and I put together a newsletter of literally whatever is speaking to me, or to the audience, or what I've had tips about."
What SYSCA covers is a mixed bag: from the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, to Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand, to Harry Styles.
Blakiston says getting information from reliable sources is her top priority - and she hopes young people are getting savvier about distinguishing between verified and non-verified content.
But should mainstream media be chasing after young people?
"Everyone is reaching for this youth audience. You can hire great young people to speak in a way that suits young people and maybe you'll grab some, or you can try and meet them where they're at, which means using every platform a bit differently.
"You've got to use Instagram differently to how you'd speak on a podcast, differently to how you'd write an article and understanding that's super important ... but I do think there does come a point where we grow up and we start reaching for more traditional sources."
Blakiston doesn't know if that will stay the same, but she hopes it does.
She warns though that there's a danger in constantly trying to reach youth audiences and "forgetting to serve the one you already have".
Hear more about how young New Zealanders engage with media in the full podcast episode.
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