Gen Alpha's Tastes Are Already Being Informed By Online Content

For more insights about Gen Alpha, download our report Gen Alpha’s Influence.

With the oldest among them on the precipice of adolescence, Gen Alpha will soon inherit the youth culture spotlight currently fixated on Gen Z. 

To better understand this emerging cohort — which is more than 40 million strong as of 2025 — Morning Consult surveyed approximately 2,200 parents of children ages 0-11. What we found is this: As a result of their frequent engagement with enormous amounts of technology and media, Gen Alphas have, by and large, gained consumer consciousness. They’re already influencing (or, in some cases, making) purchasing decisions — and they have a clear set of preferred brands to boot.

Alphas’ day-to-day lives are deeply digital 

Alphas get exposed to technology almost immediately, and their device ownership only increases over time. Large majorities of the oldest Alphas (ages 9-11) now own or have access to a tablet, smartphone, game console and laptop computer. 

But what, exactly, are they doing on all of these devices? Among other things, lots of video streaming and social media scrolling. In fact, approximately half (48%) of all Alphas use social media for up to four hours each day, and this number jumps to 63% by age 9.

While Alphas’ internet experiences are still heavily influenced by their parents — 59% said they retain complete control over what their child sees on social media — these daily usage figures make clear that the youngest generation is already embracing their older counterpart’s affinity for being extremely online. What’s more — even under parental supervision, sizable shares of Alphas are engaging with all sorts of content, and in ways not too dissimilar from Gen Zers, either. 

Gen Alpha’s content consumption looks a lot like Gen Z’s

Both Gen Alphas and Gen Zers gravitate towards “storytime” videos (wherein a creator details a story from an event or situation) and product-centric content like review, haul and “day-in-the-life” videos in large numbers.

Influencers and companies frequently leverage these formats to push all sorts of products, which is leading to an awareness among Alphas of brands — particularly those in social media marketing-heavy industries like fashion and beauty — that previous generations did not have until much later. 

This phenomenon is borne out in report after report of historically mature brands seeing an influx of uber-young shoppers in recent months and years. But it also comes through in our survey data, too — namely in the form of what Alphas are asking their parents for most. 

Alphas' social media usage is informing their brand preferences

For each of the below categories, we gave Gen Alpha’s parents a blank space to tell us what brands their child asks for most frequently. While many cross-generational childhood staples — like Barbie, Hot Wheels and Gap — made the list, so did several brands that speak to the unique moment in which Alphas are coming of age. 

For example, Chinese low-cost retailer Temu entered the U.S. market less than three years ago and is already one of Alpha’s most requested e-commerce destinations, reflecting the global and rapidly changing marketplace available to kids today. Sephora’s appearance within the personal care category also underscores Alpha’s premature, TikTok-spurred preoccupation with all things beauty and skincare. Both brands are also generally among the most mentioned across all social platforms.

Additionally, Alphas are quite incessant with their shopping requests: Across most age bands, pluralities ask their parents to buy them something at least a few times every week — likely another side effect of their exposure to so much product-centric content. 

In short, if Gen Z grew up alongside social media, Gen Alpha is growing up at the height of its powers. With fine-tuned algorithms and advanced in-app shopping infrastructure now commonplace on every major platform, Alphas almost can’t help but be rapt audiences. 

For more on kids’ increasing purchasing power, download our report Gen Alpha’s Influence.