- We estimate that US children age 3-18 have $15.8 billion of disposable income a year
- The kids’ global advertising market is estimated to be worth over $4.6 billion
- New platforms such as TikTok and Twitch have quickly established themselves as some of the favorite platforms for children, taking share away from Facebook and YouTube
- American children are three times more likely to watch more Netflix and YouTube than Linear TV
- 20% of children say that they don’t watch traditional broadcasters
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Nick Richardson is the founder and CEO of The Insights People, the global leader in kids, tweens, teens and parents market intelligence. He has established himself as a go-to-expert on kids’ insights and regularly speaks at events in the UK, Europe and the US.
The Insights People surveys more than 85,000 children annually across six countries. They are also specialists in UK parents’ insights, with a panel of more than 10,000 parents and expectant parents. Their real-time data portal and quarterly reports are utilised by a client base that includes the BBC, Disney, Ofcom, Sky, Turner and Warner Bros. You can find Nick on Twitter @nickrmarketing and The Insights People @theinsightsppl.
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Kids across the US have huge spending power, and more choice and empowerment than ever before when it comes to deciding how to spend their money. Latest data from Kids Insights shows they have $15.8 billion of disposable income to spend each year, so it has never been harder and more important for brands to get their message to the audience at right time in the right place.
Over the last 12 months, we have seen the children’s ecosystem become increasingly fragmented as this generation of constantly connected children have greater ability to control what content they consume and when they consume it.
Our data shows children between the ages of 3 and 12 have on average 56 hours per week to spend as they wish, and video games are continuing to take share away from the time that children spend watching TV.
Kids Insights data shows that of this time they are spending nearly a third of their time (18 hours) on screen-related activity like playing video games and browsing the internet and in terms of what platforms they are tuning into there is a clear shift in kids’ consumption habits, with Netflix and YouTube overtaking linear TV.
The declining amount of time that children are consuming linear TV is also highlighted by the fact that 20% of children say that they don’t watch traditional broadcasters, the same amount who say that they watch PBS Kids – the number one platform in the US.
The challenges for the toy industry
The fragmented nature of today’s ecosystem and the speed of change within it means that old strategies are increasingly not fit for purpose. The ability to not only have a clear understanding of what the kids’ ecosystem looks like but to have carefully defined who your audience is and what their ecosystem looks like, is crucial. The speed of change also emphasizes how much harder it is for advertisers to get their products in front of their target audience.
Other challenges may not be as obvious. Our data shows that toys are the number one (40%) item that 3-12s buy relating to their favorite TV shows and that just under half of the children play with toys when they are watching TV – another example of the importance of the relationship between toys and TV.
How we can help
By surveying more than 400 different US children every week, we can provide you real-time data, which is independent and statistically significant, through our award-winning portal.
This data can be viewed, filtered and interrogated to your own specific needs to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of your audience’s ecosystem, which in turn can ensure that your advertising, content and media strategies receive the best return on investment. We also produce a monthly media report which is broken down by age and gender, providing you with key insights as to what media and content children are consuming by age and gender. Further analysis is also undertaken highlighting key regional differences.
We also offer all the traditional services you would expect – from campaign testing to measurement and evaluation.
To see how comprehensive our data and insights are, please click here for a complimentary copy of our latest Reach Meter report – which provides a comprehensive understanding of the device ownership and usage of American children.
