CONSUMER
INSIGHT
Stuck on you: the platforms
our kids are glued to!
O
ur latest research shows that kids today are the most connected and conscious consumers to date. With constant access to the world around them via devices, their core values are exceedingly impacting their purchasing habits. According to our data, tweens and teens are currently sleeping seven minutes less per night. With less time spent sleeping, 10 to 18-year-olds are spending this extra time on digital leisure activity such as social media and playing video games. Video games rank as the top favourite hobby with teens (15%). They spend an average of one hour 25 minutes per day on gaming, compared with one hour 18 minutes previously. In fact, they are spending more time playing video games than watching TV. Despite gaming, kids are also craving communication. A demand for a sense of community while online is evidenced through a 20% increase in teen usage of chat platforms to keep in touch with others. This illustrates the opportunity for social platforms to encourage the maintaining of community spirit through continued restrictions due to the pandemic.
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Kids are also using their devices for much more than just entertainment. As an example, Hertfordshire County Council has introduced free e-learning modules for primary and secondary school children, encouraging students to complete ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’. The modules aim to give kids the tools to cope with mental health concerns and to foster a positive outlook. This suggests CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] opportunities for brands to partner with similar initiatives to ensure as many kids as possible can access similar information. In fact, moving to online learning had a significant impact on the amount of time that kids spent on devices in 2020. The number of schoolkids aged six to 12 who spent more than an hour on a laptop each day increased by 32%.
Kids are using their devices for much more than just entertainment
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The number of tweens who spend more than four hours a day on their mobile phones has increased by 88%. They are becoming digital natives increased time spent on devices is the norm, says The Insights People founder and CEO Nick Richardson
What this means to you… For those of you who have kids or spend any time with kids, it is apparent very quickly how kids’ media ecosystems are made up of digital media. From as young as the age of five, we see evidence that they are spending time on social media sites and by the age of 12, nearly 12%
of kids are on TikTok. Despite this, much of the kids’ industry remains tightly focused on how much linear TV advertising is required, and the number of TVRs [TV ratings points] that will be purchased to support a new product. Quite often this strategy is one of the key considerations for a brand manager, product manager and - more importantly - a retail buyer. But each year, the number of online education and entertainment platforms increases, and children are likely to continue to choose digital platforms even more, instead of the familiar TV of the past. The latest development from The Insights People - our first real-time media tool Media Mix Compass - shows the particular numbers of how long and where exactly kids spend time online. We should also keep in mind that the growing influence and decisionmaking power of kids within the home is greater than of any other previous generation. Children have their own opinions about many other new categories, such as the purchase of a new family car (which 54% more kids say they influenced in 2020 compared with 2019). For more information on the Kids Insights Media Mix Compass, and to receive a complimentary demo of the tool and a copy of the Kids Insights Future Forecast report, visit www.kidsinsights.com/mediamix.
Experts in kids, parents and family marketing intelligence, The Insights People surveys more than 7,000 children every week aged three to 18 in 17 countries across five continents, and in total surveys more than 362,000 kids a year.
