Millennial commitment crisis

Season tickets, loyal viewership, fickle fans – these entertainment issues can be related back to a US consumer finding less value in long term commitments on many levels.  Commitment and consistency is being assaulted on all fronts.

The US adult marriage rate is at an all time low of  51% (compared with 72% in 1960) according to PEW social trends   which also identified that “Today, just 20% of adults ages 18 to 29 are married, compared with 59% in 1960.”

Home ownership, a goal equated with the American culture is continues to hit new bottoms.  Bloomberg reports; “The rate dropped to 65.4 percent from 66 percent in the fourth quarter and fell a full percentage point from a year earlier, the Census Bureau said in a report today. That is the lowest level since the first quarter of 1997, and down from a record 69.2 percent in June 2004.”

Even the job market churn reinforces the concept that everyone is a free agent with little company loyalty expected or evident.

The millennial generation of 18-34s is hit hardest (or has less experience with the legacy of consistency experienced by boomers or older) by this consistent lack of permanency and it’s a fundamental change that permeates the way we do business in entertainment.

It means that the season ticket purchaser will be increasingly extinct and the single ticket, last minute purchaser will increase in value.  Electronic mediums will see their audiences continue to fragment and find fanship more difficult to sustain.

It’s not a question of “if” anymore.  Millennials are trained on obsolescence.  They accept that technology purchases will likely be obsolete in two years.   Entertainment marketers likewise need to accept this paradigm shift.  Short term connections will need to be earned over and over again in a world where next generation has been taught no value in longevity.