Companies have noticed the tremendous positive effect of video marketing on consumer attitudes and behavior. Existing research shows that 87% of video marketers report that video has a good return on investment, and 54% of consumers want to see video content from businesses and brands they follow (Hayes, 2022; Collins & Conley, 2021). Research is limited in understanding the differences in consumer attitudes towards video marketing across different generations. The goal of this research, funded by the McNair Scholars Program, was two-fold: (1) to understand characteristics of videos that are most influential for consumers, and (2) to understand whether and how these characteristics vary between baby boomers (1946–1964) and Generation Zers (1997-2012). I collected data from online surveys to understand consumer attitudes towards video content. Analysis showed that baby boomers do not engage with video content as much as Generation Zers, nor do they consume as much video material. Generation Zers and baby boomers also differ on what characteristics make video content appealing. These differences suggest that video content producers may focus more on different attributes, depending on the target audience of their videos. Although their engagement and use are not as strong, baby boomers do use video content, and it can be fashioned to meet the needs and appeal to this group and Generation Zers.
