Choosing what movie to watch as a family is no easy task. While some prefer the frights of a horror film, others want their hearts warmed with a rom-com. And according to a recent study, each generation has its own preferred genre – potentially reinforcing certain clichés.
For instance, often associated with an older audience, films set during the conquest of the American West appeal much more to Generation X than to Gen Z viewers, according to the study from Parrot Analytics. The 45-59 age group, it reports, is the most enthusiastic about this genre.
Meanwhile, over 40% of movies with a Gen Z-heavy audience, aged 14-29, are animations – far more than any other generation. “These two genres best illustrate the divergent tastes of the youngest and oldest generations,” Parrot Analytics states.
Zennials, the microgeneration between Gen Z and millennials, are particularly fond of romantic movies (31%) over animated, horror and western films. “The share of movies that have older-skewing audiences and are in the romance genre is significantly lower,” the report reads.
Millennials, on the other hand, have a more pronounced taste for horror films: nearly 20% of the movies with a strong millennial audience are in this hair-raising genre, compared with 10% for other generations.
The question remains as to whether tastes change with age. The trend appears to be supported by the study, with younger people being more fond of comedies, while older people prefer dramas.
“For example, the history genre is barely a blip on the radar of the youngest generations. For millennials, the share of movies in this genre rises to 5%, and by the time we’ve reached the Gen X group, we’ve hit peak nostalgia, with 10% of titles featuring the history genre,” the research states.
As for comedies, over 50% of movies with Gen Z-skewing audiences were of this genre. This share drops slightly for millennials and Zennials, and then falls by nearly half for the oldest generations (25.6%).
“The relative preference for dramas over comedies also flips between the youngest and oldest generation: 42% of movies with Gen Z-skewing audiences were dramas, compared to 61% of movies with audiences skewed toward the oldest age group.”
Overall, the study concluded that understanding the content preferences of different generations is key for platforms looking to curate catalogues with something for every age group.