Humor is how this generation talks about serious things
Snap x Omnicom, August 2026
How Next Gen laughs.
This is not another pass over play, YouTube, or homework. Insights already covers how days work. This tab is a single study of humor as a social language — for Next Gen, ages 13–28, not the Lab’s full 0–16 Alpha portrait.
6,028 daily social-app users across the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, and India. About 1,000 per country, including 3,593 daily Snapchatters.
Choose friends based on their sense of humor
Say brands online feel like older people trying to joke with them
Who gets the joke matters more than how many people like it
I’d say our humour is quite sarcastic, a bit self-deprecating, and often pretty absurd. We lean heavily on irony, inside jokes, and making light of awkward everyday situations.
There’s quite a lot of absurdism and self-deprecating humor, and post irony seems to be a big thing. Memes play the biggest role in this, as well as the internet in general.
What we find funny isn't necessarily the joke itself, but the incongruity, the irony, or the fact that it's so stupid it's funny.
What this study adds
The joke has rules. They just are not the ones adults were taught.
Context is the punchline
Something becomes funny because of how it is presented, not just what it is. 87% say you have to get the reference. 79% say explaining a joke usually ruins it.
Random has rules
“Completely random” is the #1 type they enjoy — and they still say the best jokes seem random but have logic behind them.
Irony is infrastructure
Things can be funny and serious at the same time. A joke does not need a clean punchline. Caring and mocking can occupy the same sentence.
Escalate or die
Humor gets funnier the more it builds. Remix, reaction, continuation. Copying a frozen meme is how a brand becomes the joke.
Timing is the whole joke.
91% say the same joke can feel funny in one place and awkward in another. Brands are never a neutral participant.
Too early
Who invited the parent?
The room is still forming the language. Watch. Do not announce that you found it.
Goldilocks
Okay they kinda ate.
People are already remixing. Add a layer. Give them something to send, not a lecture.
Too late
Unc found the meme.
Media is explaining the joke. The joke has become the joke. Own being late, or sit it out.
Every joke has a social life.
- DiscoveryWait, that's actually funny.
- SharingYou need to see this.
- Social identityIYKYK.
- Real lifeRemember that thing?
- RemixAnd then...
- RediscoveryWait, have you seen this?
Snapchat’s job in the joke
Not where they find it. Where they send it.
Spaces already covers what Snapchat is. This is the behavior the study measured: private sharing, AR play, and creator collaboration.
More likely to be shared than discovered on Snapchat
Say the funniest memories happen in private or group chats
Of Next Gen Snapchatters share memes with best friends on the app
Like creating their own funny content with AR, filters, or lenses
- 1 in 2Sending funny things in Chat
- 1 in 3Watching funny things friends post to Stories
- 1 in 4Sharing funny things on Stories
- 1 in 4Finding funny content on Spotlight
Four moves. Not forty slides.
Read the room
Learn the language before joining. Every market adds flavor. Relevance beats reach.
Build the joke
Context, structured randomness, irony, escalation. Mechanics matter more than copying a trend.
Find the moment
Brands change a joke the second they join it. Contribute something new, or stay quiet.
Design for sending
Chat, Stories, creators, AR. Make something people want to pass to a friend, not just watch.