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There's no doubt of their clout in CE by nancy klosek
If they gave out awards for population segments, Millennials would take home the statuette for Most Important Demographic. The group of adults under 35 and born by the early 2000s is, by the reckoning of the U.S. Census Bureau, America's largest generation, accounting in 2013 for one-third of the total population of America. Moreover, Pew Research Center reports that this year, the Millennial demographic is poised to overtake the Baby Boomer demographic in sheer numbers for the first time ever.
The ubiquity of portable devices and the pricing declines in larger-screen TVs are two factors that have helped to lift the Millennial demographic into a revered position for consumer electronics brand marketers, according to Ben Arnold, industry analyst for consumer technology for The NPD Group. He shared research with Dealerscope showing that audio spending is trending younger, along with TV purchases by Millennials-and, unsurprisingly, Millennials account for nearly one quarter of premium ($100-plus) headphone sales. (The charts on the next page are supplied by the NPD Group.)
What are the reasons for the behavioral manifestations of this group? Is the Millennial demographic migrating to non-headphone audio because of the better experience that better headphones is giving them when listening to their mobile devices?
Well, that's part of it, Arnold said. But there are other reasons. "New products like the Bluetooth speaker craze started hitting the market in recent years; there are lots of products, brands, pricepoints for consumers to get into," Arnold explained. "They come in different colors and form factors. That's one thing that's drawing younger consumers into tech-this idea of lifestyle and personalization. We're not talking about black boxes that just sit under our...