Spotlight: Ideating a TV Relevant to Gen Z
By Megan Gedraitis
From cube to flat, bulky to portable, black-and-white to color, bizarre to minimalist., we’ve seen the TV take on many shapes and sizes over the decades. While some updates to the TV have been missteps, the TV remains a staple in the American home.
To no surprise, our digital native generation, Gen Z, is ushering in a new eco-system of TV consumption with no boundaries around where they watch, what they watch, and how much they watch.
So how do you design a TV for those who interact differently with the digital world?
You discover what Gen Z is filling their time with, understand not everyone is using the TV to watch content, and embrace non-traditional tech preferences to meet the needs of Gen Z.
This study highlights W5’s recent role in helping a Fortune 500 consumer electronics manufacturer understand how this younger generation consumes media to guide a resonant video service development strategy for Gen Z.
Case Study: Engaging Gen Z Through Co-Creation
One of the world’s largest consumer electronics manufacturers sought the help of Gen Z consumers to develop a competitive strategy for TV service and product innovation. The client engaged W5 to conduct qualitative research to understand Gen Z attitudes and behaviors when consuming video content as well as ideate TV-centric solutions relevant to younger generations.
APPROACH
To broadly capture contexts and occasions for video consumption, W5 conducted an initial phase of online discussions with Gen Z consumers tasked to record device usage and engagement via daily dairies. W5 then enlisted select participants for in-depth friend pair interviews to build on key service and product innovation ideas that emerged in the online discussion. In the second phase, W5 ethnographers fostered a comfortable virtual focus group environment for Gen Z consumers to co-create thoughtful future TV opportunities through similar demographic groupings using ice breakers and creative exercises.
RESULTS
This co-creation approach provided a contextualized, nuanced, and action-oriented view of Gen Z TV consumption experiences. Together with Gen Z, W5 identified six expanded use cases giving the client a better understanding of video consumption desires and unmet needs enabling focus on service and product innovation initiatives to drive Gen Z consideration and engagement across all fronts.