Millennials are now apparently spending the equivalent of a day a week staring at their palm-sized screen devices, and brands that try and keep up with the digitally savvy will leave their other customers behind.

New research coming out of Connected Life – a company that looks into the digital attitudes and behaviours of consumers – shows in Australia, millennials (people aged between 16 and 30) are spending 2.1 hours a day on mobile devices. There’s roughly 85 per cent of the millennials population who own a smartphone too.

And chasing this demographic leaves baby boomers (aged 46-65) and Gen X (aged 31-45) in the dust.

“Brands need to be wary of making sweeping assumptions about the digital habits of different age groups,” said Joseph Webb, global director of Connected Life.

“While millennials are clearly an important demographic, Generation X and the baby boomers generally have higher disposable incomes, established buying patterns and are spending increasingly more time online. Brands are often too focused on the need to market to their most advanced digital consumer, when actually a tiered strategy, reflecting where the spending power actually sits, may be more appropriate.

“As brands race to catch up with consumers and stay up-to-date on the newest platforms, they need to address two challenges.  Firstly, they need to make sure they are focusing on the content-driven, shareable campaigns that really cut through with this user group. Secondly they need to not to fall into the trap of assuming that older customers can be easily targeted solely through traditional media.

“Patterns of behaviour are also shifting among these groups and their higher spending power means tailored messaging and media plans are essential.”

Lead image via Wikipedia Commons.