The best Gen Z content ideas are not about slang or trends. Gen Z want content that makes them laugh, teaches them something quickly or lets them in on something real, and they can spot a brand trying too hard in under a second. In the data below, comedy and memes top the list of content Gen Z engage with, humour drives brand attention, and AI generated marketing carries real risk.
This guide gives you 20 content formats grouped by the job they do, the evidence behind each, real brand examples and a simple plan to test them. If you want the bigger picture on where young people find brands, read our report on how Gen Z discovers brands first; this post is about what to actually make.
The short version
- Funny beats polished. Comedy and memes are the content type Gen Z engage with most, and 85% say they pay closer attention to funny brands.
- Teach one thing. Educational and how to content is the second biggest draw, ahead of news and personal stories.
- Short form opens the door, long form holds the room. 64% of UK 18 to 24s watch short form several times a day, but only 1% never watch long form.
- Communities matter more than mass. 71% of US 14 to 29s have watched videos unpacking the stories inside a fandom or community.
- Be careful with AI. 41% of US Gen Z actively dislike AI generated content, and one vendor study found 43% have stopped buying from a brand over AI marketing.
What content does Gen Z like?
Ask Gen Z what they engage with and the answer is consistent across studies: humour first, learning second. A February 2026 Attest survey of 1,000 US adults aged 18 to 27 found comedy and memes lead short form content, with educational content well ahead of news.
Short form content types US Gen Z engage with
Humour is not a nice extra. In a 2026 study of 6,028 daily social users aged 13 to 28 across six countries (Omnicom Advertising and Snapchat research, reported by LBB), 74% said they are more likely to consider buying from a brand with a genuine sense of humour. The catch: 47% want brands to write original jokes rather than copy trends, 82% prefer brands to build the joke with creators from the start, and about three in four feel brand humour online often looks like older people trying too hard.
Polish can work against you too. In Australian research by YouthInsight and We Are Different with 1,000 people aged 14 to 29, 40% said over polished ads lower their trust in a brand, while 56% said they enjoy content that feels authentic and 50% enjoy content that teaches them something new.
Do Gen Z prefer short form content?
Yes, but not only short form. YouGov found 85% of UK 16 to 24s watch short form video at least weekly and 69% every day. Short clips also drive bigger viewing: 87% of 16 to 24s have started a full show or film after seeing clips or memes on social media.
Long form is far from dead. A May 2026 YouGov survey of 2,130 UK adults found 64% of 18 to 24s watch short form several times a day and 40% watch long form (ten minutes or more) several times a day. Only 1% of 18 to 24s never watch long form, and 30% of long form viewers in that group are very likely to watch to the end. The pattern for brands: use short form to be found and long form to be remembered. Our guide to repurposing long form video shows how to make one feed the other.
20 Gen Z content ideas for brands
Here are 20 formats grouped into five jobs. Pick two or three that fit your brand and your team, not all 20.
| Job | Format | What it looks like | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Make them laugh | 1. Absurd mascot or character skits | A recurring character with a strange inner life | TikTok, Reels, Shorts |
| Make them laugh | 2. Original meme formats about your category | Your own joke, not a copied trend | TikTok, Instagram |
| Make them laugh | 3. Comment reply videos | Answer a real comment on camera, in character | TikTok, Shorts |
| Make them laugh | 4. Creator co written sketches | Write the joke with the creator from day one | TikTok, YouTube |
| Teach them something | 5. Sixty second explainers | One question, one answer, one visual | Shorts, TikTok, Reels |
| Teach them something | 6. Myth versus fact | Debunk one thing people get wrong in your category | TikTok, Reels |
| Teach them something | 7. Expert reacts | Your specialist reacts to a viral clip or claim | YouTube, TikTok |
| Teach them something | 8. Deep dive long form | Ten to twenty minutes on a topic fans care about | YouTube |
| Show the real thing | 9. Admin or intern diaries | The person behind the account, on camera | TikTok, Instagram |
| Show the real thing | 10. How it is made | Process footage with honest narration | Shorts, Reels |
| Show the real thing | 11. Day in the life of a team member | Real job, real pressures, no script | TikTok, LinkedIn |
| Show the real thing | 12. Mistakes and fixes | Show what went wrong and what you changed | TikTok, YouTube |
| Let them join in | 13. Polls, quizzes and Q&As | Let the audience vote, guess or ask | Instagram Stories, YouTube posts |
| Let them join in | 14. Customer content challenges | A simple prompt people can film at home | TikTok, Instagram |
| Let them join in | 15. Live streams with a reason | Launches, drops, live builds, live Q&As | TikTok LIVE, YouTube Live |
| Let them join in | 16. Duets, stitches and remixes | Invite people to build on your video | TikTok, Shorts |
| Go deep | 17. Fandom and lore explainers | Unpack the stories inside a community your brand fits | YouTube |
| Go deep | 18. Borrowed nostalgia | Revisit an era, format or look from before they were born | TikTok, Reels |
| Go deep | 19. Episodic series | Same format, same day, numbered episodes | YouTube, TikTok |
| Go deep | 20. Video podcast clips | Full episode on YouTube, sharpest moments cut for Shorts | YouTube, Shorts, Reels |
Advertain guidance. Platform fit is our view based on how each format is built and discovered, not a ranking from a study.
1. Make them laugh (ideas 1 to 4)
The strongest recent example of surreal brand humour is Nutter Butter. Its absurd, lo fi TikTok universe grew the account by more than 768,000 followers and earned more than 249 million views with no paid media, according to its The Drum Awards case study (entrant reported). The lesson is commitment: one strange, consistent world, not a series of one off jokes.
Gen Z do not want brands to be cool. They want brands to be funny, useful or honest, and ideally all three.
2. Teach them something (ideas 5 to 8)
Educational content is the second biggest draw in the Attest data, and it is the easiest win for most brands because you already know more about your category than your audience does. Keep each video to one question. Start with the answer, then show the proof. For longer explainers on YouTube, the opening matters most; see our guide to increasing audience retention.
3. Show the real thing (ideas 9 to 12)
Marc Jacobs turned its TikTok into a personality led, behind the scenes channel. Its Shorty Awards entry reports growth from zero to 362,000 followers in 2024 across 165 videos, averaging 1.5 million views per video (self reported). The face behind the account matters: Gen Z follow people, not logos. For more formats in this group, see our list of behind the scenes content ideas.
4. Let them join in (ideas 13 to 16)
Interactive formats give Gen Z a role. Polls, quizzes and Q&As lead the list of interactive formats US Gen Z engage with.
Interactive formats US Gen Z engage with
Customer content can outperform anything a brand films itself. When TikTok users filmed themselves trying Little Moons mochi in early 2021, Tesco sales rose more than 700% in a week compared with an average December 2020 week, according to The Grocer (figures supplied by the brand). Tesco's own #TescoVoiceOfCheckout challenge drew just under 3,000 entries and 42 million views in ten days, as reported by Marketing Week in its awards coverage. Our guide to getting user generated content covers permissions and disclosure.
5. Go deep (ideas 17 to 20)
Gen Z are not one mass audience; they are thousands of overlapping communities. YouTube Culture and Trends research (vendor research, 496 US 14 to 29s, April 2026, published 10 September 2026) found 71% have watched videos unpacking the stories inside a specific fandom or community, 69% have watched content from a community they consider niche and 63% say being into the same things as other people makes them feel part of something bigger. Find the communities your product already belongs to and make content for them.
Nostalgia works the same way. A Vevo study of nearly 2,000 people in the UK, US and Australia found 65% of Gen Z experience “borrowed nostalgia” for eras they never lived through. Old formats, old looks and archive footage can feel new to this audience.
Series give people a reason to come back. Our guide to planning a branded content series covers formats, schedules and video podcasts on YouTube. It is the approach behind Paul Ribot going from 0 to 30,000 subscribers in 75 days, and behind our Formula E work, which earned 7M+ views across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok (see our work).
Should brands use AI generated content for Gen Z?
Use AI behind the scenes, not in front of the camera. In the Attest survey, 41% of US Gen Z actively dislike AI generated content and say it lowers quality, 31% are wary and 28% are positive. A July 2026 survey of 901 Gen Z by Rival Technologies (vendor research) found 74% react negatively when they learn a brand's marketing was made with AI, 50% have unfollowed a brand over it and 43% have stopped buying from one. Use AI for research, scripting help and versioning; keep real people, real voices and real footage on screen. Our guide to using AI for YouTube covers disclosure rules.
How to turn Gen Z content ideas into a plan
- Pick one job. Decide whether your brand is best at making people laugh, teaching them or showing the real thing. Start there.
- Choose three formats. Take three ideas from the table that fit that job and your team's skills.
- Find your people. List the communities, fandoms and creators your product already belongs to.
- Write with creators. Bring creators in at the idea stage, not just to deliver a script. Brief them properly with an influencer brief.
- Post for six weeks. Publish each format at least twice a week so you have enough data to judge it.
- Keep the winner, kill the rest. Judge each format on shares, saves, comments and watch time, then turn the best one into a series.
Gen Z content checklist
| Check | Ask yourself |
|---|---|
| Hook | Does the first second show the point, the face or the joke? See our guide to YouTube hooks. |
| Native | Would it look normal in the feed next to a creator video, or does it look like an ad? |
| Original | Is this our own idea, or a trend we are copying a week late? |
| Human | Is there a real person, voice or comment on screen? |
| Useful or funny | Does it teach one thing or make people laugh? If neither, cut it. |
| Repeatable | Could this become episode two, three and four? |
| Disclosed | If a creator is paid or gifted, is it labelled clearly as an ad? |
| Measured | Do we know which metric this post is for: shares, saves, comments or watch time? |
Advertain guidance.
Frequently asked questions
What is Gen Z content?
Gen Z content is content made for people born roughly between 1997 and 2012. In practice it means short, native video with a clear hook, a human on screen and a reason to share it: humour, a useful answer or an honest look behind the curtain.
What content does Gen Z engage with most?
Comedy and memes lead, at 67% of US Gen Z in the Attest February 2026 survey, followed by educational content at 44%, news at 41% and personal stories at 39%.
Which platform is best for Gen Z content?
There is no single platform. In YouGov's UK research, 16 to 24s said YouTube (78%), Instagram (65%) and TikTok (57%) shape what they watch. Ofcom says less than a quarter of 16 to 24s' in home video viewing is now broadcaster content. Our comparison of TikTok, Reels and Shorts goes deeper.
How often should brands post content for Gen Z?
Consistency matters more than volume. We suggest testing each format at least twice a week for six weeks, then building a regular series around the winner. Deloitte found 73% of Gen Z fans say social platforms are their main way of discovering new content, so a steady presence in the feed counts.
If you want help building a Gen Z content plan, talk to us.
