GWI (2026) — Does Gen Z really exist?

Summary:

This report from GWI, a consumer research company that sells audience data and insight tools, asks whether Gen Z works as a single target audience for marketers, or whether the label is too broad to build strategy on. Its goal is to get marketers to pressure-test generational targeting and use richer audience data instead of stereotypes or AI summaries drawn from the open web. The report ends by pointing readers to GWI’s own product.

The data comes mainly from GWI Core, a continuous online survey of more than 1 million people a year aged 16-64 (or 16+) across 53 markets. Some figures also draw on GWI’s topic studies (gaming, luxury, travel and others) and on GWI Pulse, a weekly US survey. A few charts use custom analysis of marketer respondents. Sample sizes for individual charts and the fieldwork dates are not given.

Key findings:
• Gen Z looks less distinct once Millennials and Gen X are included. On many measures it differs sharply only from Boomers. For example, 86% of Gen Z call their smartphone their most important device, and so do 86% of Millennials and 82% of Gen X.
• Gen X gets overlooked. It sits closest to the population average on attitudes and behaviour and is the least searched generation. Yet it holds 23.5% of global spending power, and only 15% of Gen X feel represented in the advertising they see.
• Marketers feel closer to Gen Z than they really are. Marketers share 46% of 145 attitudes with Gen Z, compared with 6% with Gen X and with Boomers. But even Gen Z marketers match the wider Gen Z population on only 49% of those statements.
• Gen Z is less price-led than the usual story says. 36% of Gen Z describe themselves as price-conscious, compared with 45% of Gen X and 55% of Boomers.
• Age plays a small part in how people see themselves. It ranks 13th of 15 identity factors at 30%, far behind values and beliefs (59%) and personality (50%).
• Life stage, income and market explain more than birth year. Gen Z living with a partner are 571% more likely to have bought baby shampoo last month than Gen Z living with parents. Gen Z in Nigeria are 291% more likely to have paid for study programs than Gen Z in Germany.
• AI personas repeat open-web stereotypes. GWI says the AI tools it tested described Gen Z investors as male-led and finance-focused. In GWI’s own data, 41% of Gen Z investors are female and many are reachable through gaming and podcasts.

Margin notes:
This is a vendor report from a company that sells audience data, so it has a clear interest in showing that simple generational targeting falls short and that better data is the fix. All findings come from self-reported surveys, not from tracked purchases or media use. The report combines GWI Core with other GWI studies without saying which one each chart uses, and it gives no fieldwork dates or per-chart sample sizes. Some framing figures come from third parties (BofA spending power, ANA programmatic waste, Statista, US Bureau of Labor Statistics) and are not GWI’s own findings.