In January, our EMARKETER Daily newsletter team made some advertising and marketing predictions for 2024 on everything from AI to attention metrics.

YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon are Gen Alpha’s coolest brands, per an August 2024 report by Beano Brain that surveyed more than 55,000 kids under 14. To foster relationships with the generation that not only has growing spending power of its own, but also influences parent purchases, marketers will have to understand its evolving digital habits.

Gen Alpha is “very savvy when it comes to brands,” said Dani Mariano, president of Razorfish. But the young generation has different attitudes toward technology and learning than their older counterparts. They’re open to learning from brands, especially when creators are involved. And they’re eager to interact with others, both on and offline. Here are five key stats from Razorfish’s recent report on Gen Alpha.

Over half (51%) of US children recall seeing commercials on YouTube recently, the top platform for recognition across multiple digital channels, according to an October 2023 survey from Precise TV.

South By Southwest was last week, and AI and VR were all the buzz. Gen Alpha is growing up with these technologies, which means the next generation of consumers will not just be used to AI and VR—they’ll expect to see it. Here are three takeaways from our analyst regarding tech trends at the event.

It’s a new year, which means new predictions. Our analysts have already made a number of big predictions for 2024, but here are a few more from our newsletter team. We’re keeping an eye on generative AI, attention metrics, and Gen Alpha—and we expect to see more ads in more places along the way. Here’s what we’re watching.

Gen Alpha is not a younger Gen Z, and brand messaging targeting the generation should be unique to what matters to them. As the most digitally native generation yet, they expect out-of-the-box digital experiences and forward-thinking tech capabilities. And YouTube is playing an outsized role in brand awareness and discovery.

Though it may be tempting to lump Gen Alpha (consumers born after 2013) and Gen Z together, there are several differences between the two that marketers need to understand to effectively target the growing generation. As the second generation of digital natives, Gen Alpha will expect seamless digital experiences and mobile-first approaches. They also have more purchasing power than one might expect, with brand affinity starting around age 7, according to Morning Consult.

Millennials are parenting. Gen Z is entering the workforce. And the never-ending wheel of time has spun a new generation for marketers to watch: Generation Alpha. The oldest members of this digitally native, pandemic-influenced generation are tweens now, and marketers need to pay attention to how today’s children differ from their Gen Z older siblings.

Children will make up 13% of the US population this year, making the future Gen Alpha about 46 million strong so far, per the US Census Bureau. Within that group, 26% will be Hispanic, compared with 19% for the general population. Some 7% will be two or more races, versus 3% for the overall population.

Gen Z is getting older and steadily moving toward becoming the most digitally connected generation. In 2024, US Gen Zers will surpass millennials in regular internet use, and they'll do the same with smartphone penetration in 2026.