Teens drive culture more than young adults, study says

SuperAwesome has published research suggesting teen-focused content reaches four times as many young adults as young adult content reaches teens, challenging a long-held marketing assumption about where cultural influence begins.

The study examined more than 500 million opt-in digital signals from more than 1,900 devices used by teens and young adults in the US. It combined behavioural data, linked surveys and more than 100 in-depth interviews to track what people aged 13 to 24 watch, search for, share and buy across YouTube, TikTok, Chrome, Safari and Roblox.

At the centre of the research is the claim that teens are setting trends rather than following older consumers. It found that 76% of young adults reported watching content that appeared to be made for a younger audience, while they were almost eight times more likely to search for explanations of cultural references.

The data also pointed to platform-level differences in how content travels between age groups. On TikTok, videos popular with teens reached young adults at the same scale and in some cases more widely. On YouTube, teen-favoured videos reached young adults 1.4 times as widely. By contrast, videos popular with young adults lost between a third and nearly half their audience among teens.

Discovery patterns

Life stage may help explain the gap, with teens operating in a mode of discovery, moving across more channels and content formats than young adults and quickly sharing what they find with friends.

The research argues that this behaviour gives teens an outsized role in how online culture forms and spreads. It also suggests much of that sharing takes place in private spaces such as group chats rather than public feeds, making it harder for marketers to track through traditional social metrics.

The report linked that pattern to the role of creators in shaping teen preferences. It found that 71% of teens trust creator recommendations over random ads, suggesting creator-led discovery carries more weight with that audience than conventional digital advertising.

SuperAwesome also pointed to entertainment examples where younger audiences helped lift creator-led projects into the mainstream. It cited Kane Parsons, who began posting his Backrooms series on YouTube at 16 before a later feature film adaptation recorded the biggest opening weekend in A24's history. It also cited Curry Barker, whose horror shorts on YouTube were followed by Obsession, a film made for USD $750,000 that became Focus Features' highest-grossing film.

Buying route

The study also examined how teens move from discovery to purchase. It found that 74% of teens buy products they have seen on social media, but only 15% complete the transaction inside the app where they first encountered the product.

Instead, teens tend to use one or two shopping apps such as Amazon or Walmart rather than buying directly through social platforms or using multiple retail apps from individual brands. It also found that 37% of teens discover products online but complete the purchase elsewhere, indicating that discovery and spending often happen across both digital and physical channels.

The report said teen influence also extends into family spending. It found that 73% of parents are likely or very likely to buy products teens ask for, while 41% of purchases are decided by teens but funded by parents.

That makes the audience important not only for direct spending but also for household purchasing decisions across categories including snacks and entertainment. For marketers, the implication is that teenage attention can affect a broader set of transactions than teen purchasing power alone would suggest.

Kate O'Loughlin, Chief Executive Officer of SuperAwesome, said the findings challenge assumptions about who drives culture online.

"This new research technique allowed us to compare the digital behaviors of Teens and Young Adults to truly understand where culture emanates from. It's deep, it's specific, and it breaks the previously held idea that trends are driven by Young Adults, who are, in actual fact, searching for youth-driven memes and content as they cope with 'adulting'," said O'Loughlin.

She added that brands need a more tailored approach to younger audiences.

"It's Teens who are imperative for brands wanting to be part of what's new. And to do it right, brands need to understand what's driving talkability with them across their group chats, their feeds, what they stream, and in the immersive platforms not typically inhabited by adults. For culture-creation and for regulatory reasons, Teens are a distinct audience that needs and deserves to be met with a specialized strategy," said O'Loughlin.