How Gen Z Viewing Habits Are Changing Super Bowl Advertising
Year after year, Super Bowl season proves to be one of the most lucrative advertising moments of the year for CPG brands, agencies, and retailers. After all, food and beverages are, by a significant margin, the most purchased items in anticipation of the big game.
However, as Gen Z grows into a powerful consumer demographic, this more traditional media approach faces new challenges. Unlike previous generations, Gen Z is less engaged with live sports and even less with disruptive advertising formats.
For brands looking to meet younger consumers during the Super Bowl season, understanding these shifting habits is crucial. In this article, we explore the opportunities propping up from Gen Z’s shifting consumption habits, and how recipe pages are the key to meeting younger consumers leading up to Super Bowl LIX.
Gen Z’s Evolving Viewing and Consumption Habits
Off the bat, Gen Z consumers differ from their Millennial and Gen X counterparts in pure consumption. Only 8% of Gen Z report actively following the Super Bowl compared to 43% of Millennials and 37% of all adults, showing a waning interest in traditional live sports broadcasts, including the Super Bowl, amongst younger viewers.
Moreover, Gen Z’s shifting relationship with advertising and media as a whole differs as well. This generation tends to be skeptical of traditional, disruptive ad formats. In fact, when asked to describe their attitude toward various digital media formats, Gen Z respondents responded significantly more negatively towards intrusive media like mobile pop-ups.
They value media that feel useful and non-intrusive, preferring environments where ads align naturally with their current objectives, like online recipe pages.
Recipe Pages as Contextually Relevant Ad Environments
Recipe pages inspire consumers and influence their purchasing decisions. In fact, online recipes have inspired 86% of consumers to cook a new meal or dish, 80% to purchase a new product or ingredient and 69% to purchase a new or different brand of product.
This means CPG brands and agencies, as well as retailers, are all armed with a prime opportunity to convert recipe content into a contextually relevant advertising opportunity.
Consumers are landing on these pages with specific mindsets, from looking for a quick and easy meal to finding the best dip for their Super Bowl party - CPG brands are in a unique position to capitalize on this and connect with users based off those mindsets.
Advertising on recipe pages also enables CPG brands to mitigate brand safety risks, which continue to grow with the rise of MFA sites and after the election. Maintaining brand reputation is critical, especially leading up to high-exposure moments like the Super Bowl.
Recipes also enable media efficiency. Targeting audiences on recipe pages ensures CPG brands their products will live in contextually relevant environments. You’re tapping into high-intent audiences, putting your ad dollars to strategic work.
Now, let’s explore the benefits recipe pages present specifically leading up to the Super Bowl.
The Benefits of Recipe Page Advertising for Super Bowl Campaigns
The Super Bowl is huge for recipe usage. Just looking at game day recipe usage throughout our network of over 5,200 publishers, we see that the two weeks leading up to the big game see some of the largest yearly peaks.
Whether it’s wings, nachos, or sliders, consumers actively seek recipes to support their game day gatherings during this period of time. This is what positions recipe pages as a viable off-site ad environment that CPG brands can take advantage of to meet consumers in relevant moments.
For example: think of the potential of integrating relevant products like chips with game-day themed dip recipes.
Our 2024 State on Online Recipes Report showed that 91% of consumers use online recipes to inspire their meal choices, and 65% of them go as far as to add products to their shopping carts directly from the recipe page. This makes recipe pages not just a great place to promote products, but a highly effective conversion point during the Super Bowl.
At the end of the day, the TV isn’t the only place audiences are engaging with ads. Tapping into off-site environments is critical, especially ones that are highly popular around Super Bowl time like recipe pages.
How Gen Z Specifically Engages with Recipe Pages
Recipe usage is up across the board. When we surveyed both Millennials and Gen Z respondents, we found that 96% of Millennials and 87% of Gen Z consumers use online recipes regularly. Over half (57%) of Gen Z respondents said they’re using online recipes more now than they were one year ago.
Gen Z, specifically, leverages online recipes in a highly actionable way. Our survey showed that 76.6% of Gen Z consumers have looked up recipes on their mobile device while in the grocery store. This highlights the impact of online recipes in an in-store environment.
Think of it this way: a shopper can be looking up a recipe for a dip, and be presented with a relevant ingredient or condiment from a CPG brand that they can purchase on the spot. You’re targeting consumers in real-time, when they’re making a purchase decision in-store.
In fact, grocery purchasing behavior and recipe pages are inextricably tied for Gen Z audiences. 79% of Gen Z said that an online recipe inspired them to try cooking a dish they hadn’t made before, while 74% said recipes inspired them to purchase new ingredients or products they’d never bought before.
For CPG brands, this presents a compelling opportunity to introduce new products, flavor profiles, and seasonal offerings to a generation that is not only open to trying new things but is actively searching for inspiration to do so.
By aligning ads with recipe content, brands can connect with younger audiences in a way that feels organic, relevant, and useful. With almost 70% of consumers finding recipe pages through organic search, meeting them in a useful, contextually relevant way can cut through the inundantation of advertising they’re experiencing.
Conclusion: Why Recipe Pages Are the Future of Contextual Advertising
Gen Z’s advertising preferences demand a shift in how brands approach the Super Bowl. No longer can CPG brands and agencies rely solely on televised media and programmatic advertising.
Meeting younger consumers non-intrusively on recipe pages can help brands engage with Gen Z when they’re actively seeking inspiration and grocery shopping guidance.
As Gen Z continues to adjust to and reshape the digital media landscape, recipe pages will remain a powerful way for brands to reach this generation at the right mindset.