Opinion - Generation Media

Move over Gen Alpha - is your business ready for the Artificials?

Lisa Morgan discusses how marketers will need to adjust strategies to best reach Generation Beta, or The Artificials, individuals born between 2025 and 2039.

It feels like only yesterday we were running our first ever KidsCon event, launching Generation Alpha into the UK marketing world. It is hard to believe that 2025 will officially be the year that the first Generation Betas are born.

Generation Alpha, also known as The Glass Generation due to its love of the multi-screen world it is growing up in, refers to children born between 2010 and 2024. Growing up in a highly digitalized and technologically advanced world, they are comfortable with various digital devices and platforms from an early age. They are heavily influenced by millennial and Generation Z parents and exposed to diverse cultures and global perspectives through the internet.

However, some members of Gen Z have recently been taking to social media as the realisation dawns that 2024 is the last year of Gen Alpha. Comments on posts relating to this subject are obtaining 3m+ views on TikTok, largely resonating with the sentiment of urgency to hasten the decision to become parents. In some cases, there is even a sense of pride in their (potential) status as parents to Gen Alpha offspring.

But move over Gen Alpha, there will soon be new kids on the block. Generation Beta, or The Artificials as they are becoming known, will encompass individuals born between 2025 and 2039. Growing up in an even more digitally integrated world than Alpha, they will be exposed to advancements on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Web 3.0. Who

knows, they may even see the true realisation of the Metaverse. Their lives will literally depend on technology.

With an estimated 90% of all online content expected to be generated in some way shape or form by AI by as early as 2026, theorists predict Betas will grow up in a world heavily fraught by deepfake content, truth will no longer be a fixed concept, and they will spend their lives searching for reality.

Overall, Generation Beta, like those before them, will be shaped by the opportunities and challenges presented by technological innovation, globalization, environmental sustainability, and societal change. Their experiences and perspectives will contribute to shaping the future of the world they inherit.

Given the rapid pace of technological advancement and societal change, Generation Beta will need to be highly adaptable and resilient. They will be accustomed to navigating uncertainty and ambiguity in both their personal and professional lives and demand flexibility, accessibility and experiential learning opportunities. They will be even more attuned to climate change challenges and witness ongoing social and political shifts in relation to equality and inclusion, becoming more active participants in social movements and political activism, using technology to mobilize and advocate for change.

When they grow up, Generation Beta will enter a workforce characterized by rapid technological

change and automation. They may have to adapt to new job roles and industries that are emerging as a result of technological advancements.

And what about media habits? How will marketers need to adjust strategies to best reach Gen Beta? The truth is, as yet there is no right answer, as new technology and platforms will emerge that the industry will need to adjust to. This is no different to how toy marketers have had to behave with Gen Alpha, having transitioned from a TV reliant market through to one dominated by YouTube and Gaming. Albeit at an ever accelerating pace, toy marketers and specialist agencies like Generation Media, have been, and will continue to be, at the forefront of media change.

According to Mccrindle Insights, of the eight billion people in the world, 1.8b have been born since 2010. Generation Alpha is already the second largest generation in the world, just behind the 1.9b Generation Z (born 1995 to 2009). In 15 years, the world’s population is projected to reach the nine billion milestone. When it occurs, Gen Alpha will be the largest generation ever, comprising more than one in five people in the world (22%).

By 2037 we estimate there will be 1.7b Betas globally; these children aged 12 or under will start their lives in a world of nine billion. By age 13 to 37, the two billion Gen Alpha in the world can expect to have an average of 2.22 children; welcome Generation Gamma and Delta, but that is an article for another day…