The Changing Face of Kids’ Engagement

This article originally appeared in the July issue of ToyWorld magazine

Could it be that 2014 is seeing a turning point in the way kids watch entertainment? With Disney’s Frozen breaking records at the global Box Office to become the highest grossing animated film ever (beating Toy Story 3), a generation of young cinema fans is reported to be reliving the movie phenomenon again and again. DCM'S Toy and Games Specialist, Steve Chambers looks at how children are engaging with media in a multiplatform world.

Whether it’s online, on DVD or on tablets, hoards of youngsters are virtually devouring the billion dollar grossing hit on loop, with Disney’s official YouTube footage of Let it Go racking up over 223 million views, while cover versions, mash-ups and parodies amount to millions more.

Children are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their viewing choices, seeking out their own entertainment and to consume this in the way that they wish. More sophisticated, more savvy and more discerning, this audience is become more elusive than ever before, which means an evolving media landscape.

Steve Chambers, DCM Senior Client Lead

Recent figures released on television habits indicate a shift. March this year saw a startling decline in viewing levels for all children, particularly amongst four to nine year-old boys. The market leading kids’ cable and satellite channel Cartoon Network saw a drop of 30 per cent, while the terrestrial CiTV experienced a drop of 52 per cent. Across all channels the decrease for boys’ viewing in this age-group for the month of March has been 28.9 per cent, which demonstrates it is not just a shift of viewing between channels but a marked change in habits.

These impact drops are not limited to the boys market.  Although nowhere near as severe, girls aged four to nine years-old are also spending slightly less time in front of the TV, though overall the decrease is in single digits at 8 per cent.

A study released from Telescope 2014 and carried out by TV Licensing found that children spend two hours and 23 minutes a day watching TV, an hour and a half less than the average four hours most of us spend in front of the television.  This comes at a time when the use of tablets has tripled for five to fifteen year olds (up to 42 per cent in 2013 from 14 per cent in 2012).

Kids Channel schedules appear to be as good this year as they were last year. So what is happening? Where are these children going? Are they turning away from a regimented TV schedule and turning to tablets to be entertained when it suits them on demand?  If this is the case, it raises challenges for advertisers, and suggests the reliance on TV to deliver marketing objectives needs to be re-evaluated if the measurement system is not picking up viewing on other appliances.

Looking outside of the TV landscape, opportunities exist to reach this kids audience using the same audio visual marketing assets and content.  With 80% of the UK Cinema market, Digital Cinema Media offers advertisers multiple packages to reach the kids audience that are tailored to brand requirements.  Family films have seen increased reach and growing audiences over recent years, with an overall growth in the number of family focussed films. This enables advertisers to not only engage with a kids audience, but also to use the same content to enter a true shared viewing experience, aligned with the freshest film releases.

Last year in the UK, two of the top four films released were family films (Despicable Me 2, Frozen) with a further two making a total of four in the top 10 (Monsters University, The Croods). It was globally the biggest year ever for animation, with worldwide Box Office reaching nearly £250m for the genre.

This autumn, families will be planning days out to the cinema to enjoy films such as Planes 2 3D, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3D and Paddington. The opportunity for brands to be a part of that enduring family experience is compelling.

Planes 2 3D is released on the 8th August 2014

To complement the general schedule of new cinematic releases, across the year, cinemas run special kids’ screenings across every weekend and all school holidays, such as Cineworld’s Movies for Juniors, ODEON Kids, Vue’s Kids AM and Picturehouse’s Kids’ Club. These deliver a very pure housewife and children’s audience at a cost per thousand rate comparable with many of the Kids TV channels.  When the sheer impact of the big screen is added to the brand message, the deeper message outtake is difficult to ignore. A trip to the cinema has always been a treat, but it is also an increasingly rare opportunity for a parent and child to sit down together, switch off the outside world and just lose themselves in what they see in front of them. A memorable weekend, half-term or holiday activity that the whole family can enjoy together.

With sales of Frozen character dolls exceeding 500,000 and selling on eBay for over £1,000, while parents have to enter a lottery to buy a costume from the Disney store, the engagement that kids enjoy with film is undisputed. My advice is: watch this genuine pop-culture phenomenon unfold.

Source: Telescope 2014 is a research project looking at the nation’s viewing habits from TV Licensing