Generation Alpha: Who’s influencing your future customers?

Kids these days – they can’t get through a bowl of spag bol without Snapchatting their friends, and a day without their charger would be a fate worse than death.

To many of us, a relationship this intense with the online world might seem exhausting, but perhaps we should give Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) a break. They’re the first true digital natives, having never experienced a world without an iPad in it.

But how does this all-consuming relationship with the internet impact their behaviour as consumers? Who are they watching online and how much power do these influencers have over what they want? 

YouTube generation

With most forms of social media requiring users to be aged 13 and over to have accounts, the platform used most frequently by Gen Alpha is YouTube.

In light of this, children insight agency Beano Brain surveyed 1,600 seven- to 14-year-olds in the UK and the US about their favourite YouTube personalities.

By far the most popular with kids is MrBeast, with 39% of UK children surveyed citing the US content creator as one of their favourites.

That makes sense when you consider that the YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has 232 million subscribers and his monthly video views stand in the billions, but some other names on the list might be more surprising.

In second place with 20% is SSSniperWolf, the British-American YouTuber Lia Shelesh, whose content combines gameplay, reaction videos and gadget testing.

Unspeakable’s YouTube channel, filled with outlandish challenges such as filling a school bus with slushie, comes in third with 21%. 

Other notable mentions are Dude Perfect, a group known for their trick shots and sports content, and US social media personality Charli D’Amelio, who first found fame posting dancing videos on TikTok and now films vlogs and lifestyle videos. 

Although these channels are all family-friendly, they’re not overtly aimed at children, which is a huge part of their appeal and an advantage for marketers looking to reach the younger generation, says Chris Kubbernus, founder and chief executive of social media agency Kubbco. 

“Younger kids want to act older anyway, so products you would consider more for older teens will hit the under-14s, but you can’t legally go after that group as an advertiser on YouTube,” he says. 

“There are slightly different rules with advertising and influencers. If you’re running an advert, you can’t target under-16s using Google Ads. Because of that, I’d say the best practice is to pay the influencer.

“If you’re using one of these content creators and you know that quite a large number of their audience is under 14, then you’re going to get that audience.”

Retailers who have already partnered with some of the content creators on this list include Walmart, Nike and Amazon.

Closer to home, Footasylum has teamed up with Danny Aarons (number 14 on the list) among a host of other British influencers. 

“I’ve seen brand channels do some really interesting things on these platforms,” says James Hacking, founder of influencer marketing agency Socially Powerful. 

“Look at the Footasylum channel. It’s full of YouTubers hosting different series and they are given a lot of creative freedom to do so. 

“[Beauty brand] Dove taps into knowledge about the younger female audience with its Selfie Talk content, which highlights the distortion and effects they might be using to change their looks and discusses the pressure to be perfect.

“This campaign reaches the right audience to celebrate natural beauty and encourage young women to love the person they are without digital effects.

“Content creators like Dude Perfect, MrBeast and PewDiePie have their own channels, but they are always full of brand partnerships along with their trademark content that appeals to teenagers. So it’s a rich environment on YouTube for brands to get involved.”

Good influences  

Beano Brain’s research shows that 22% of UK children have bought something because it was recommended by someone on YouTube, and that increases to 24% among boys.

A further 37% have wanted to buy something that a YouTuber has talked about even if they weren’t able to.

Video games, toys and games, and clothes rank the highest among the product categories kids have wanted to buy based on a YouTuber’s endorsement. 

But there is also a generous dollop of scepticism in this generation, with just under a quarter of children reporting that they actually trust the opinion of YouTube experts, compared with 53% for the opinion of their friends. 

And parents everywhere will be stunned to learn that their kids do actually care about their opinion, with Mum’s opinion trusted by 50% of kids and Dad’s by 44%. 

And this effect is reciprocated as it seems Gen Alpha is also hugely influential on how their parents spend money – and not just when it comes to the toys or clothes being purchased for them.

“It’s important that brands understand Gen A and know how to engage with them as we’ll reach peak Gen Alpha in 2025, with 2 billion in this age group around the globe,” says Helenor Gilmour, director of insight and strategy at Beano Brain.

“They are already exerting huge influence over their parents, the much-maligned millennial generation.

“Never before have kids wielded so much influence over family decisions and on a wide range of products, from car choice to holiday destination – 49% influence the weekly shop, 25% have encouraged their parents to switch to products that are better for the planet and 21% have encouraged their parents to eat less meat.”

Pester power

With new apps, Alpha is also more aware of how much money they have than the generations before them, which is making pester power “more alive than ever”, says Kubbernus. 

“In the past, we didn’t really know how much money kids had in their accounts and they weren’t great at carrying their bank cards,” he says.

“Now, with the tools out there, we can send kids money directly to their phones and they can complete transactions with Apple Pay; they don’t even need a card anymore.”   

As shown by the list of favourite YouTubers, using influencers that do not directly aim their content at kids is one of the best ways to reach them – and it could also be a good way to influence their parents. 

“Brands have a huge opportunity to speak to this generation before they become full-fledged consumers themselves, as well as to millennial parents through their Gen Alpha children,” says Gilmour.

“We’re only just scratching the surface of understanding what makes Gen Alpha tick. However, we do know that their parents place a high value on their opinions, so even if they are not yet financially independent, brands need to think about how they communicate with them.

“By appealing to their purpose-driven mindsets, authentically supporting causes and having a conscience, brands will make inroads when connecting with the Alphas.”