Young People Spend More Time Playing Video Games Than Watching Movies

As online platforms continue to battle for young people’s attention, it seems that video games appeal more to Millennials and Gen Z than movies. According to a study carried out in the United States, these two generations spend more time gaming on consoles than they do watching feature films.

According to YPulse’s Gaming report, 95% of Generation Z and Millennials surveyed play video games, and 78% of them do so on a weekly or more frequent basis. Gaming therefore remains an extremely popular activity among young people. Some even spend more time playing video games on consoles than they do watching movies. In a sample of around 1,500 Americans aged 13 to 39, surveyed in November 2022, respondents said they spent seven hours a week gaming on consoles, compared to six hours a week watching movies. While motion pictures don’t seem to have captivated young people, TV remains in the hearts of Generations Y and Z, who spend an average of eight hours a week watching shows and series.

A closer look at the findings reveals that Generation Z are more interested in playing video games on a computer than their Millennial elders. Millennials are more likely to watch movies than play video games on a computer, allocating six hours and five hours respectively to these activities. This is not the case for Gen Z, who devote the same number of hours to these activities (six hours each), according to the report. Note that it’s a different story when it comes to playing video games on consoles, which is more popular among young people, scoring an average of seven hours per week for both Gen Z and Millennials.

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Although television is far from dead for young people, the fact remains that this pastime is often interspersed with other activities. In fact, YPulse’s TV and Entertainment report shows that 71% of young people engage in other tasks while watching TV, such as playing online games.

Online content platforms have clearly understood the appeal of video games to young people. To continue capturing their online time, Netflix has developed numerous games on its platform. TikTok, for its part, appeals to its users’ appetite for gaming thanks to its interactive filters, not to mention the live broadcasts which, like on Twitch, allow internet users to follow game players live in the action — effectively a way of playing by proxy.