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TV continues to attract kids as parents grow wary of digital devices

Children are watching more, not less, television despite the rise of digital devices as a primary video channel, with the latest Cartoon Network’s New Generations study revealing TV viewing rose 8% in the past year.

cartoonIn what might be considered by some an unsurprising finding in research from a broadcaster, the survey of 1000 children aged 4-14 found that TV remains the most influential channel for reaching kids.

David Webb, director of research at Turner Asia Pacific, told Mumbrella said that the growth in TV viewing was a reflection of it being considered a safe environment by parents compared to digital channels.

“Obviously lots of kids are watching TV already so it underlines that TV is still an important and relevant media despite lots of discussion about online,” Webb said.

“Having said that, watching online video, particularly Youtube,  is coming on really strongly so we have seen a lot of growth in there.”YouTube logo

While the amount of time spent watching TV has remained the same, he said that more children were watching TV.

“What we do see is kids are multi-tasking and they are using more devices and overall media time has increased over previous years because they have access to these devices,” he said.

Webb said that one of the reasons TV remained strong was that parents and kids enjoyed watching shows together such as cartoons and movies.

“The whole family get together does tend to happen around TV.”

Webb said the research revealed that TV advertising was delivering higher recall than other platforms.

“They are more likely to remember ads if they have been on TV and they are more likely to notice ads on TV,” he said.

“The pre-rolls on Youtube, they will skip them or turn around and subconsciously block them – so particularly compared to social media, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat and Instagram etcetera, kids are more likely to find (TV ads) more funny, more noticeable, and funny is particularly one of the most important.”

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