Digital behaviour not defined by age

Kantar Media’s TGI Clickstream – an in-depth study of consumer offline and online behaviour and characteristics – found that 15-24 year olds are no more likely than other age groups to take part in a variety of digital behaviours.

For example, just under 30% of Digital Natives have paid to download an app – the same proportion as among 35-44 year olds.

The TGI Clickstream analysis found that the best predictor of digital behaviour was not age but the consumer’s economic and cultural capital (defined as general knowledge acquired through education and cultural practices).

When it comes to buying holidays or travel online, TGI Clickstream showed that Digital Natives were 22% less likely to do so than the average internet user. Meanwhile adults aged 35-64 with large amounts of cultural and economic capital (called Social DNA by TGI Clickstream) are 65% more likely than the average internet user to make such purchases online.

And it’s not just about financial wherewithal; 35-64 year olds with only a strong bias towards high cultural (not economic) capital are still 43% more likely to buy holidays and travel online than the average internet user.

The same pattern was seen with online purchase of various goods and services. Digital Natives were only 8% more likely than the average internet user to buy music or videos online, whereas 35-64 year olds with high Social DNA were 52% more likely than the average to do so.