The relevance of the study is associated with the transformation of media consumption of the young generation under the influence of the realities of the information society. Of particular theoretical significance is the identification of the degree of objectivity of the rationale for differentiating the young generation of media consumers into two sub-groups – Y and Z. The empirical basis was both the results of studies of youth media consumption presented by various domestic authors, as well as their own study of media consumption by Tambov schoolchildren and students. The research material is the online publications Meduza and NR, which were named as the source of news by the majority of the polled millenials and centenials. The methodological base of the work is based on a systematic approach and a comparative method. The results of this study show that the media consumption of generations Y and Z has identical characteristics: multitasking thinking, a high level of technological culture, the desire for active consumption of information, the need for individual choice of media content. However, one can state the objectivity of justifying the differentiation of the young generation of media consumers into two subgroups. Millennials are characterized by egocentricity, centennials – by tolerance; in the content of information for generation Y, an element of the game is obligatory, and for generation Z – the actual basis; millennials are self-confident, open to various streams of information, while centenials are distinguished by an ironic view of the world.