The New Architecture of Consumption: How Technology Is Reshaping Consumer Behaviour

The much-celebrated technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)^[a] have transformed industries and accelerated innovation. At the same time, however, they have brought remarkable challenges as not every transformation triggered by new technologies has benefited people or the planet. The Fifth Industrial Revolution (5IR)^[b] of more recent years has thus seen concerted efforts to place guardrails around emerging technologies, with a focus on society and sustainability.

There is another dimension of change unfolding across the world: Consumers across generations are embracing digital platforms, giving rise to newer categories of consumers. Driven by the expanding scale and quality of connectivity, digital markets are reaching even the smallest habitations. Through satellite, mobile, and broadband networks, remote communities are becoming increasingly connected to the rest of the world, though digital and gender divides remain.

This revolution has allowed like-minded consumers and citizens to form global communities that transcend regions and nations. Consumers across generations are now triggering, following, and enhancing trends on a global scale. A product can become popular—or else be condemned—within seconds. These communities exhibit behaviours that cut across markets connected through digital platforms. The needs of these new universal consumers are being fuelled by emerging technologies. In response, product makers and service providers are reworking their systems to cater to evolving patterns of consumption and expectations.

To better understand these shifts, each subsequent chapter in this report begins with a profile of a new consumer category. These profiles, developed by the team at Fireside Ventures,^[c] aim to capture the rapid evolution of consumer segments. From Design to Delivery; Concept to Creation; and planning to packaging, companies are transforming their operations to meet the demands of new consumers.

Teenagers and young adults are no longer mere influencers of household consumption through their parents. Armed with digital payment tools and subscription services, they have become a powerful consumer segment in their own right. Though they continue to influence their parents and guardians in real-world purchases, teenagers inhabit a virtual world of gaming, social interaction, and consumption.

In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, understanding customers and gaining deeper insights into their buying behaviour is increasingly critical for business success. As consumer preferences continue to shift, traditional market segmentation based on demographics, geography, psychographics, and behaviour is no longer enough. Businesses must consider and incorporate newer customer categories and obtain deeper insights into their everyday choices that influence their consumption patterns.

Among the most prominent emerging consumer segments today are sustainability-conscious “green” consumers, fitness-focused consumers, and leisure- and health-focused customers. Another influential segment is Gen Alpha. Although young, tweens and teens in this cohort are shaping trends and influencing market dynamics.

The Attention Economy

Digitisation has not only created new categories of consumers who exhibit universal behaviour within their age groups but has also overwhelmed the world with an avalanche of information. As a consequence, the world now lives in the so-called age of the ‘Attention Economy’—an economy in which brands compete for the increasingly limited resource of consumers’ attention.^[d]

Attention is one of the most valuable resources because it is scarce in today’s digital age. The attention economy is often considered part of the market economy. Over the past few years, attention economics has gained prominence due to the exponential growth of social media and “influencer marketing”. According to a study by Oxford Academic, spending attention on social media translates into buying preferences, while receiving attention translates into individual capital, specifically through reputation and personal branding.^[1]

The dynamics of the attention economy incentivise companies to keep users engaged for longer periods on apps and websites. Designers understand that their products compete for users’ limited attention in a highly competitive market. The value of attention has become increasingly vital, especially in the global advertising industry, which generated US$853 billion in net advertising revenue in 2023 alone. As noted in an article published in Forbes, “The equation is simple—if brands have your attention, they have your pocket.”^[2] A PwC study estimates that consumer spending in the United Kingdom’s (UK) digital attention economy reached £21 billion in 2023.^[3]

As brands increasingly recognise the scarcity of attention, they are adapting their business models to capitalise on it. Music streaming services such as Spotify, for example, operate on two revenue models: consumers either pay to remove advertisements or pay with their attention by listening to them.^[4]

Computer scientists and psychologists have been studying attention spans for 20 years. During this period, the average time a person can focus on one thing has dropped from around two and a half minutes to around 45 seconds.^[5] A study by Bulbshare reveals that 99 percent of Gen Z skip advertisements as quickly as possible, while 63 percent use ad blockers.^[6] This decline in attention spans, coupled with the active avoidance of traditional advertising, is forcing brands to rethink not just what they say but also how and where they engage consumers.

A study by marketing company Livewire on how the next generation of consumers expects brands to market to them found that Gen Z and Gen Alpha expect to be “advertised in-game.” It revealed that 73 percent of Gen Alpha gamers prefer playable experiences to video advertisements, and 58 percent consider immersion part of the enjoyment of both gaming and in-game advertising. Therefore, it is the only way to gain attention from this generation of customers.^[7]

Several trends are reshaping consumer lifestyles. Going to the cinema is no longer the weekend activity it once was. Streaming services have transformed every evening into a potential “movie night”, making the weekend less relevant as a consumption category. Gaming has also become a more compelling form of entertainment for many consumers than movies. The Entertainment Software Association’s (ESA) Essential Facts Report 2024^[8] found that Millennials (55 percent) and Gen Z (63 percent) are more likely to spend their free time playing video games than watching movies. Gaming is no longer a niche activity. Increasingly, movies and games are being bundled together, with OTT platforms integrating gaming options alongside traditional content. As noted in a report by UniqCast, “With younger audiences demanding more interactivity, rewards, and engagement, streaming platforms are beginning to adopt gaming mechanics to increase retention, enhance monetization, and revolutionize entertainment.”^[e],[9]

Technology enables millions of universal consumers to connect, watch, and play with peers across the world on the same platforms. Indeed, the video game industry is poised for renewed growth, driven by platform convergence. As boundaries between console, mobile, and PC gaming continue to break down, developers are gaining new opportunities for smarter monetisation.

This convergence reflects a broader shift in the digital ecosystem, where attention, content, and monetisation are increasingly interconnected across platforms. In this new paradigm, video content is increasingly being produced and consumed on social platforms. Creators operate independently, platforms have different ways of incentivising them, and audiences get the content for free from algorithms designed for attention and engagement. Social platforms are extending generative-AI tools to help creators run their businesses, create content, target audiences and advertisers, and connect with brand sponsors. For brands, creators offer credibility and authenticity when reaching both mass audiences and highly engaged niche communities.^[10]

This shift towards a creator-led digital ecosystem is also adding more formats to its profile. Digital comics and webtoons, for instance, are increasingly being created for universal consumers who interpret the world through the glass screen of a personal device. The digital comic book market is forecast to grow by US$1.64 billion between 2024 and 2029.^[11] As a subset of the broader digital publishing industry, digital comics focus on the distribution of comic books in electronic formats, catering to an audience seeking portable, accessible, and often interactive versions of traditional print comics. These formats offer features such as zoom functions, panel-by-panel reading, and hyperlinks to supplementary content. Digital consumption allows instant sharing and collective experiences, which are integral to the lives of contemporary consumers.^[12]

The following chapters examine the many dimensions of these emerging consumption patterns and the ways in which they are shaping investment and sales cycles across industries.

Consumers increasingly demand personalisation, sustainable services, meaningful experiences, values alignment, and “everything as a service”. They expect more choices, greater customisation, and faster delivery. Industries are restructuring operations to meet these expectations. As complexity rises, companies are relying more heavily on emerging technologies to predict and understand consumer behaviour. The growing digital footprint of consumer activity has made this easier.

However, data alone does not generate insights. Excessive amounts of data can create confusion and lead to flawed conclusions. Consequently, new technologies are being deployed to understand consumer impulses. Advertising and marketing are using AI-based technologies to understand the mind of the consumer even before the buyer is aware of their own impulses.

The entire value chain of manufacturers is shifting and aligning to the growing cohort of universal consumers. Robotics is enabling more flexible assembly lines and warehouse management systems. Companies are ready to sell or rent their products and services. Sales are being conducted through an omni-channel strategy. Consumers demand constantly renewed and personalised products but are also adamant about sustainability. They want a promise that the product they use has a minimal impact on the environment.

For consumers, people and planet priorities are more important than profits. The global industry is in churn because of new consumption habits triggered by technology. These chapters will help business leaders understand the shifts and reorient their strategies to meet the needs of demanding consumers.

Read the report here.

Pranjal Sharma is a board advisor and author. He writes on the impact of technology on business, society, and governance.

The author thanks Kaveri Sengupta and Disha Sharma for their research assistance.

All views expressed in this publication are solely those of the author, and do not represent the Observer Research Foundation, either in its entirety or its officials and personnel.

^[a] The Fourth Industrial Revolution is the trend towards automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies and processes, which include cyber-physical systems (CPS), the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, cognitive computing, and artificial intelligence.

^[b] The Fifth Industrial Revolution seeks a balance between technological advancements and human well-being, emphasising collaboration between humans and machines, environmental responsibility, and inclusive economic growth.

^[c] Fireside Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Bengaluru which invests in retail startups. The consumer profiles in this report were created for and shared exclusively with this author.

^[d] The term “Attention Economy” was introduced by psychologist, economist, and Nobel laureate Herbert A. Simon in 1971, who described attention as a “bottleneck in human thought” and noted that “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” With the rise of the internet in the mid- to late nineties, research on the ‘attention economy’ began to develop further with writers like Michael Goldhaber. https://academic.oup.com/iwc/article/37/1/18/7733851 

^[e] Gamification in OTT platforms refers to the integration of game-like mechanics into streaming services to make content more engaging and interactive. Users can switch seamlessly between viewing and gaming within the same platform. It enhances user engagement, retention, and loyalty while creating additional monetisation opportunities.

^[1]Maxi Heitmayer, “Attention Economy and Digital Media Use,” Interacting with Computers 37, no. 1 (2025), https://academic.oup.com/iwc/article/37/1/18/7733851.

^[2]Curt Steinhorst, “Lost in the Scroll: The Hidden Impact of the Attention Economy,” Forbes, February 6, 2024, https://www.forbes.com/sites/curtsteinhorst/2024/02/06/lost-in-the-scroll-the-hidden-impact-of-the-attention-economy/.

^[3] Strategy&, PwC, The Attention Economy: Media and Entertainment in the Digital Age, 2024, https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/entertainment-media/dae-strategy-and.pdf.

^[4]Ally Mintzer, Paying Attention: The Attention Economy; Berkeley Economic Review, March 31, 2020, https://econreview.studentorg.berkeley.edu/paying-attention-the-attention-economy/.

^[5] Cyrus Moulton, “Squirrel! Why Attention Spans Seem to Be Shrinking and What We Can Do About It,” Northeastern Global News, January 23, 2024, https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/01/23/decreasing-attention-span/.

^[6] Dig In Marketing, “Product Sampling for Gen Z: Navigating the Attention Economy Through Experiential Marketing,” LinkedIn post, April 17, 2024, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/product-sampling-gen-z-navigating-attention-economy-experiential-qgxpe/.

^[7] Rachel Kaser, “Games Marketing Firm Livewire on the Attention Economy Across Generations,” GamesBeat, October 23, 2024, https://venturebeat.com/games/games-marketing-firm-livewire-on-the-attention-economy-across-generations/.

^[8] Entertainment Software Association, 2024 Essential Facts About the U.S. Video Game Industry, https://www.theesa.com/resources/essential-facts-about-the-us-video-game-industry/2024-data/.

^[9] UniqCast, 2025 Gamification Trends in OTT: The Future of Interactive Streaming, https://www.uniqcast.com/ott-iptv/ott-gamification-guide-2025.

^[10] China Widener, Jana Arbanas, Doug Van Dyke, Chris Arkenberg, Bree Matheson, and Brooke Auxier, “2025 Digital Media Trends: Social Platforms Are Becoming a Dominant Force in Media and Entertainment,” Deloitte Insights, March 25, 2025, https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/technology/digital-media-trends-consumption-habits-survey/2025.html.

^[11] Research and Markets, “Digital Comic Book Market Size, Competitors & Forecast,” https://www.researchandmarkets.com/report/digital-comic-book-market.

^[12] Research and Markets, “Digital Comic Book Market Size, Competitors & Forecast,” https://www.researchandmarkets.com/report/digital-comic-book-market.