Jalang'o is the most followed influencer by millenials, Gen Z

Langata MP Jalang'o. [Wiberforce Okwiri, Standard] Urban Millennials and Gen Z's earnings are relatively good and that makes them a good target for advertisers. Only 20 per cent earn less than Sh10,000 with more than half earning between Sh10,000 and Sh40,000 a month. About 11 per cent earn between Sh40,000 and Sh70,000 while five per cent earn Sh70,000. None earns more than Sh150,000, according to a report done by Media Innovation Centre in 2022 released this week. According to the report, Phelix Odiwuor, alias Jalang'o is the most followed influencer by Millennials and Generation Z. Millennials are a generation marked by progressive usage of and familiarity with mobile phones, internet and social media while Gen Zs is the generation that was born in a period of thriving social networks and digital media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Twitter. They are categorized as people aged 25 to 35 years while Gen Zs are those within 18 to 24 years of age. The report involved 1,201 respondents, eight focus group discussions and 150 digital tracking, all from Kenya. From the statistics, 27 per cent of the respondents voted for Jalang'o as their favourite influencer, followed by Churchill (24 per cent) and Eric Omondi (22 per cent). Jalang'o, the Lang'ata Member of Parliament has a following of 2.8 million on Instagram, 759,000 on Facebook, 756,500 on Twitter and 598,000 subscribers on YouTube. Other influencers on the list included Akothee, Sauti Sol and Diana Bahati who had one per cent more than her husband Bahati. The research also showed that a bigger percentage (45 per cent) of Millennials and Gen Zs rely more on social media for news and entertainment compared to other platforms like television (32 per cent), radio (14 per cent) and newspapers (3 per cent). This is mainly attributed to the finding that social media allows them to consume the content as well as share it with others, unlike other platforms. A lot of millennials and Gen Zs spend more than four hours a day on social media compared to radio and TV. This is seconded by tracking, which shows that more than half (55 per cent) of the two generations spend six to nine hours a day online with a good number spending more than ten hours. Digital tracking showed that WhatsApp is used by the highest percentage (90 per cent) of respondents whereas the survey placed Facebook on top of the list with 84 per cent usage. However, the kind of content consumed by the two generations highly depends on how interesting and attractive it is and not on how elaborate, adequate or progressive it is. Most of the respondents pay Sh11 to Sh50 mainly for trending news and only a small percentage (three) pay for non-news content in the likes of inspirational, educational and conversational content. They only pay for content that has brand association and brand closeness, unique content that adds to their career, information that is of personal interest which cannot be found anywhere else and when it is their parents paying on their behalf. Affordability, interesting content, relevance and attractiveness are some of the reasons why these generations pay for content. At their age, they want content they can easily access at an affordable price which is payable using easy payment methods. From the report, the title of the story, peers especially those on social media networking sites and close friends and family are the main factors that influence the choice of content consumed. However, past research has shown that youths get disappointed by clickbait titles and steer clear of brands that survive on the same. The study shows that these generations trust news aired on television and rely on social media as a touch point of information alerts which they then verify from the Tv, radio and newspapers (legacy media). It also shows that they rely mainly on TV for general information more than social media and radio station. Some specific elements attract the youths to the legacy media and these include credible and relatable news, educative and entertaining content as well as updates on current affairs. The respondents noted that in as much as the legacy media would like to talk about current affairs, they should not focus too much on political content. Music in these media is also becoming unpopular as only 1 per cent of the respondents consume it. According to the report, for legacy media to attain the younger generation's viewership, they need to air content that educates on youth empowerment mainly addressing the issues of employment, entertaining content on trending issues and reducing the number of advertisements. The findings suggest that these media should also own a social media website that the youths can use to access the content. From the statistics, a huge percentage of youths (21) visit YouTube to consume content created by different television brands.

Jalang'o is the most followed influencer by millenials, Gen Z

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