027_029_LSB_Vegas Summer 2022.qxp_NEW LSB 2008 GRID 27/04/2022 09:58 Page 27
THE INSIGHTS FAMILY RESEARCH
The Insights Family on how kids are not only open to the concept of the metaverse, but are already engaging with it and what this could mean for brands.
Licensing in the metaverse T
he younger generations are primed for the metaverse. Although their parents have witnessed the development of the digital age, the on-demand generation have grown up with the internet at their fingertips. The amount of time that kids are spending within digital worlds, coupled with their desire to express themselves through their purchases, demonstrates that not only are they open to the concept of the metaverse but they are already engaging with it. There are, of course, some obstacles facing brands which are looking to explore the metaverse. Firstly, there is the challenge of IP ownership when considering content licensing in the metaverse. Digital objects, ads, media, characters and experiences are being created by a number of different creators, making it hard to keep track of who has rights to what. This is where NFTs have been used to determine ownership of a property, allowing brands to monitor their assets. Secondly, the current cost of AR/VR units is slowing down the transition to the metaverse. However, in the UK, year-on-year ownership of VR devices among tweens has more than doubled since 2020. Over 1 in 10 of kids aged 10-12 in Europe now have access to VR digital environments. With the rise of the metaverse comes the promise of a world of
Inset: A Vans World skatepark experience launched on Roblox last year, helping to further boost the popularity of the sneaker brand.
augmented reality. 2021 ended with Facebook committing itself fully to AR by changing its name to ‘Meta’ and tech giants such as Apple are investing in an AR/VR headset. We have only seen the start of the endless possibilities to uncover in the metaverse. Kids are already immersed in virtual reality gaming environments. Gaming is now on average the number one hobby globally among kids twice as popular as the second-most, football. As gaming continues to win the attention of kids, the prominence of in-game advertising will become increasingly important and more opportunities will arise in the licensing world. The popularity of in-game advertising grew across all European markets covered by Kids Insights and was the location which saw the largest growth in 2021. Nearly 1 in 10 tweens aged 10-12 across Europe now say that they first saw their favourite ad in a video game. It’s natural that as kids spend more time engaging with a particular medium, they are more likely to translate their activity into purchase behaviour. As a result, brands are harnessing the power of these platforms in order to reach this digitally enabled audience. LICENSING SOURCE BOOK EUROPE 2022
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