YouTube has published a new ‘Culture and Trends’ report, which incorporates insights from 10 countries to provide some perspective on what’s driving the latest Gen Z video trends, and how that relates to digital strategy.

The 55-page report takes an in-depth look at three key trends which emerged from YouTube’s data set:

• Community Creativity – Utilizing the connective benefits of the web, communities are taking niche passions and turning them into larger, shared experiences.
• Multi-format Creativity – The rise of short-form video has also, somewhat logically, led to more creators posting a wider range of content, in order to tap into key trends while also maximizing the community and monetization benefits of longer-form clips
• Responsive Creativity – YouTube also notes that formats which play into emotional needs – like “comfort creators”, vibe content and ASMR – have become increasingly popular during the pandemic. ‘83% of Gen Z have used YouTube to watch soothing content that helps them relax, an increase from when we ran our survey a year ago.”

The trends point to the shifting interests of younger viewers, away from the big, popular trends of times past.

“We found that digital culture is now all about personally-relevant content. In fact, 65% of Gen Z (online 18-24 year olds) agree that content that’s personally relevant to them is more important than the content that lots of other people talk about. Individual viral videos – the Davids, Charlies, and, yes, even foxes that broke through in the past – are becoming increasingly less central to trends in a world where audiences and creators prioritize moments that matter to them and their lives.”

The full report includes a heap of more in-depth data on these emerging trends, while YouTube has also published two infographic summaries of the key notes.

You can download the full report here.