MEDIA
ANALYSIS
Girls make their way back to the TV T
his time last year, when we wrote about how TV viewing Giraffe Insights’ study measures children aged from two to had changed and evolved in H1 2020, we reported 12, so let’s dig down deeper into the sub-demos and see how that children’s impacts were in a -25% decline across your individual target audiences are actually viewing Live TV. kids’ commercial channels - despite having been through a Where core demos such as CH4-9, CH7-12 and B4-9 have lockdown and children spending more time with their screens. all unsurprisingly seen double-digit declines in line with the In 2021 we’ve seen a similar start to the year, with children wider CH4-15 data, it’s great to see the more preschool being at home during Q1 but returning to their usual routines audience of CH4-6 on only a marginal single figure decline from mid-March as schools reopened. So, what impact has that and even better to see the Girls 4-9 demo actually increasing had on viewing? their viewing in H1 versus H1 2020. Well, the children’s commercial channels certainly So, which is the driving commercial benefited from the extra time at home and the cold channel for girls that’s behind this increase winter nights throughout January and February, as in viewing? Cartoonito has seen a +75% in All live we saw minimal declines in viewing year-on-year. G4-9 viewing versus the same period last TV, despite However, it’s probably no surprise to anyone that year (BARB, July 2021). But while Cartoonito the overall as children returned to school in March compared has seen double-digit growth across all the with when they were forced to stay at home during declines on demos, it’s more likely that we can attribute the same time in 2020, we saw an overall decline of the kids' this to its similar story of success from last 29% in children’s equivalent impacts. Q4, where it continued to grow in impacts commercial Q2 has also seen a turbulent time with April due to its increased position on the EPG. channels, has and May declines across the wider 4-15 CH demo. So, the real winner of H1 for Girls 4-9 (and actually seen These declines, coupled with the largest H1 other sub-demos) is Tiny Pop. Across Girls an increase in declines in June, have brought the overall viewing 4-9 viewing alone, it grew its impacts by percentage versus -25% for the same time last year. viewing 205% in H1, meaning it now delivers over However, when we look at the wider picture a quarter of all this audience’s equivalent of viewing, before assuming that either SVOD or impacts! The channel has had similar success Online Video channels are directly stealing viewing occasions across other audiences as well, with CH4-9 seeing a +54% away, we need to cross-reference this with Giraffe Insights’ growth, CH7-12 remaining stable year-on-year and HWCH0research within this space - ‘Kids and the Screen: Changing the 3 seeing a +15% growth (BARB, July 2021). Channel’ - which was conducted in April. May’s viewing for Girls 4-9 saw the largest increase we’ve We can report that all live TV, despite the overall declines seen across Live TV in years at +42%! So let’s look at what mentioned above on the kids’ commercial channels, has programming was driving this on Tiny Pop, as the channel actually seen an increase in its percentage allocation of viewing grew by over 700% in May with Girls 4-9. While we usually occasions. Live TV, SVOD [Subscription Video On Demand] see Milkshake programming dominating the top and Online Videos make up over three-quarters of all viewing 10-20 shows, in May, Tiny Pop programming took up four occasions in the latest wave, with Live TV increasing from 23% spots of the top 10 out of 250 kids’ commercial shows. to 26% but SVOD seeing a marginal decline versus October of Respectively, Rev & Roll is averaging 20,000 G4-9 last year. As mentioned, this could be signs of children returning impacts per transmission in fourth place, then Molang, to their routine or signs of content fatigue. Remy & Roo, and True and the Rainbow Kingdom all averaging 17,000 G4-9 impacts per transmission in seventh, eighth and ninth place. Tiny Pop shows no signs of slowing down, with June’s growth figures year-on-year remaining successful across the audiences such as G4-9 (+383%), CH4-9 (+193%) and CH4-6 (+326%). Let’s keep a close eye on the channel’s performance to see if the success continues into the second half of the year. Watch this space!
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Generation Media is the UK and Ireland’s largest independent media buyer of toys and games advertising. Visit generationmedia.co.uk or call 0207 307 7900 or email contact@generationmedia.co.uk to learn more
Kate Moncur, associate director of Generation Media, gives an update on children’s programme viewing habits
