Piper Sandler: Survey shows 50% of teenagers are not interested in the metaverse

Facebook's vision of the metaverse could involve large numbers of young users avoiding its social media platforms and hanging out in virtual worlds, but many in Generation Z are fairly indifferent to the concept, with half of teens who took part in a recent survey saying they were unsure or had no interest in buying a VR device.

Financial firm Piper Sandler's biannual Gen Z research project (via Fast Company) surveyed 7,100 teens on a number of topics, including the "metaverse." While 50% admitted not having or not planning to buy a VR device to access virtual spaces, 26% said they already own such a device, and 9% said they would be interested in buying one.

Of the 26% of participants who own a VR device, only 5% use it daily, and 82% use their device less than a few times a month. 68% of the teens in the survey population consider themselves gamers.

Another part of the survey asked young people about their insights on NFTs and blockchain, which will become part of the metaspace. While 87% have heard of cryptocurrencies, only 11% have traded them. When it comes to NFTs, 61% have heard of them, of which 8% have purchased them.

Another survey from Morning Consult found that 56% of Millennials (born between 1980 and 1996) and 51% of Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) were interested in using the Metaverse, but when it came to Meta’s Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workrooms, interest dropped to around 50% for the former and less than half for the latter.

Elsewhere, TikTok was named the most popular social media app, beating Snapchat for the first time, and its advertising revenue is expected to reach $11 billion this year, more than Twitter and Snapchat combined.

Amazon was named the teens' favorite e-commerce site, Nike was the most popular clothing and footwear brand, and Chick-fil-A was the favorite restaurant.

From cnBeta.COM