Jenefer Brown, Lionsgate’s EVP and head of Global Products and Experiences, shared insights Tuesday on how the studio courts and markets to Gen Z audiences: “You find them on gaming platforms,” she said.
“We’re playing video games, and I would not think of gaming as just video games,” Brown added while speaking at TheWrap’s 2024 Power Women Summit. “You really have to think about it as a social platform, because that is where Gen Z — and by the way, even to a further extent, Gen Alpha — is spending their time. And it’s not just to play the game that’s part of the experience, but it’s really about community building. It’s a place that they engage with friends.”
The panel, titled “The Women of Lionsgate: Generating Gen Z Buzz” and presented by Lionsgate, featured a number of prominent voices in addition to Brown: Nasim Cambron, EVP of Worldwide Publicity, Motion Picture Group; Amanda Kozlowski, chief of staff, Motion Picture Group; Courtney Mock, SVP of Scripted Television Development; and Jocelyn Sabo, SVP of Scripted Television Development. Diane Haithman, senior contributing business reporter for TheWrap, moderated.
Together they discussed the factors that influence Lionsgate’s content creation, marketing and distribution decisions for younger audiences, including TV series like “Midnight Sun” and “John Wick: Under the High Table” and films like “Ballerina” and “The Housemaid.”
Through it all, 90% of Gen Z consumers live in gaming worlds, and Lionsgate is following them there.
“The truth is, about 80% of today’s population plays games in some capacity,” Brown said. “But when you look at Gen Z, that number jumps to 90% and when you look to Gen Alpha, that jumps to 95%. As a brand or an IP holder, 55% of Gen Z-ers who are on video games will buy and connect with brands that they see in the gaming space.”
She added: “So it’s really important for us as we’re thinking about how we extend our content, how we get to fans and reach them in all the ways that not only are they entertaining themselves, but again, socializing.”
The panel additionally revealed that contrary to assumptions about short attention spans, Gen Z audiences are deeply engaged with longer form content when it feels authentic. “They are not afraid. They are not the MTV generation of my day where everything is quick,” Cambron said, emphasizing that Gen Z craves genuine conversations and content.
“They just want the real s–t,” Cambron added.
Authenticity also emerged as an important theme during the panel, with Cambron noting that Gen Z is twice as likely to trust influencers over traditional media sources. “They’d rather follow somebody who is an expert in boots than to follow somebody that is widely followed, with 10s of millions of followers that’s wearing the boots,” Cambron said.
Kozlowski emphasized the importance of listening not just to audiences but also to the company’s younger staff members when developing content for Gen Z viewers. “What we think may resonate oftentimes doesn’t,” she said, adding: “What the young staff is really excited about we may not always catch, and it’s really important that you figure out how to tune your sensibility to the younger audience, and the only way to do that is to engage in a dialogue.”
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