Far More Gen Z'ers Than Gen Y'ers Would Give Up Sex for the Internet, According to a Wide-Ranging Study from 9GAG in Collaboration with GfK

'Black Paper' Report Also Finds that Millennials Would Rather Work Hard for Themselves than Coast in an Easier 9-5 Job; Value Voting Over Social Media and Don't Require Instant Gratification

NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- 9GAG, the global cross-platform entertainment media network, today released the findings of its first Millennial 'black paper' study, which explores Millennial values across topics such as career, politics, the internet, video games, social media, entertainment, eating habits and more. Conducted with GfK, this is one of the largest studies of Millennials ever, encompassing 135,000 responses from 194 countries. For the purposes of the study, 9GAG defines Millennials as anyone between the ages of 18-34, and within that, there are two segments: Gen Z (18-24) and Gen Y (25-34).

While Generation Y by and large are significantly more likely to give up the Internet than sex than Generation Z, a deeper look reveals that this position is heavily influenced by gender: a substantial portion (49%) of female respondents indicated they'd give up sex for the Internet, while a majority of men (59%) said they'd forego the Internet in favor of sex. Other key findings from the report include the fact that Millennials are self-starters who want to build their own businesses, they value their right to vote, don't require instant gratification, understand the importance of working hard and still value real-life connections over those on social media.

"Our 'black paper' reveals invaluable insights about Millennials – a cohort that remains both coveted by and mysterious to marketers," said Lilian Leong, chief operating officer, 9GAG. "While many Millennials exhibit similar behaviors and traits such as self-assuredness, being self-starters and understanding the value of hard work, it's important to note that they are not a monolith – we found crucial differences based on gender and nationality."

The report also found that 65% of people from Generation Z say they'd rather lose their ability to post on social media than lose their right to vote. 72% of Generation Y, though, say they'd give up their social media posting to ensure they can vote. The biggest outlier on this topic was the country of Indonesia, where more than half of Millennials would give up their right to vote in favor of posting on social media.

Other key findings of the report include:

• Millennials are more confident than prior generations
• 63% say they would rather be a smart person who is not appreciated than an average person who is constantly praised
• That said, there are significant disparities between countries. For instance, 74% of South African respondents would rather be smart and unpraised, while half of Belgian respondents would prefer to be average but get all the praise in the world.
  
  
• More than half of Millennial respondents said they'd prefer working incredibly hard – for themselves – than to coast in an easier job working for someone else
• 71% of respondents said they would prefer to run a start-up than be guaranteed long-term employment.
• There are significant disparities per country, though.  81% of Mexican respondents report wanting to run their own company, while 44% of Finnish respondents report preferring a 9-5 job working for someone else.
  
  
• Millennials prefer light-hearted forms of entertainment over more serious content
• 62% of our survey respondents would rather watch Baywatch as opposed to Dunkirk.
• This is regardless of Baywatch's middling reviews (18% on Rotten Tomatoes), and the critical hype that surrounded director Christopher Nolan's tense World War II epic.

"The scale of this study – over 100,000 responses in two weeks – is testament to 9GAG's reach as well as its deep engagement with its audience," said Roland Leung, Commercial Director, Market Opportunities & Innovation, APAC, GfK.  "The incredible response rate gave us the opportunity to really parse out the characteristics Millennials share – and the ones that shift based on gender, geography and other demographic factors. While there have been plenty of studies on Millennials, few have anywhere near this level of insight."

The full 9GAG black paper can be downloaded here: https://about.9gag.com/blackpaper

About 9GAG
9GAG is a global cross-platform entertainment media network. Launched in 2008 as a website, 9GAG now reaches more than 150 million audience, generating more than 3.5 billion pageviews and 2.2 billion social video views per month.

9GAG's open and collaborative platform draws Millennials together to share, discover and engage with funny and entertaining content.

9GAG is the most followed entertainment brand across social media with 41.8M followers on Instagram, 37.3M on Facebook and 12.6M on Twitter.