M+E Daily
Kids Still Heavily Reliant On Packaged Media For Entertainment
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For every dollar that kids spend on entertainment content, 85 cents go toward physical products, with the balance going to digital media, according to new research from the NPD Group.
More than three quarters of kids ages 2-14 (79%) have acquired some form of physical or digital content in the past year, with 31% acquiring both physical and digital content. But kids generally turn to digital media when they want to supplement their physical collections, says NPD, which adds that less than 1% of kids acquired only digital content in the past year.
Video rental services and online music services were the top content-based household services or subscriptions used by kids ages 2-14 in the past year, with 19% of kids using an in-store video rental service, 12% using an online video rental service, and 14% using an online music service. Paid subscriptions to online video game rental services and paid subscriptions to online gaming websites ranked among the lowest.
Forty-one percent of kids who own some form of digital content say music was the first type of content they download, with 38% saying it’s game downloads. The average age at which kids make their first digital acquisition is 7 years old.
“Forty-three percent of digital downloaders were six years old or younger when they acquired their first digital content,” says NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “Since parents are the first touch point for children this age, it is important for companies to develop marketing strategies that reach parents as well as kids.”
