As the old get younger, the young do indeed get older
Part of our market trackers training series looks at different audiences and the ways that the latest social media trends are reflecting their changing profiles. Every generation thinks that kids grow up younger but the stats do indeed, in the case, back this idea up.
Ofcom’s recent report offers some useful insights. 74% of homes now have internet access. This suggests that beyond those who do not have the means to afford it, pretty much every home with a young family has access to the web. This offers a whole world of new opportunities: 67% of 5-7s rising to 82% of 8-11s now use the internet at home. That’s pretty much everyone interested, so it is universal access (or close to it). Half of these parents think their children know more about the internet than they do. So who is leading who here?
One direct indicator of getting older younger is tweens eagerness to get onto more teenage sites. Around a third (34%) of children aged 8-12 who use the internet at home have a social networking profile on sites, like Facebook, which requires users to register as 13 or over. That number is up 36% in a single year and no doubt will continue to rise whilst these sites continue to be popular with teenagers. One third of 8-11s (37%) rising to two thirds of 12-15s (66%) watch YouTube regularly. And there is a whole education to be had just on YouTube.
Another insight is offered by research commissioned by Marketing Week. It looks at brand awareness amongst kids. Perhaps unsurprisingly more than 90% 6-10 year olds recognise popular kids FMCG brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Tropicana and Ribena, alongside other classics like Nike, Adidas and Disney. Yet as kids grow from six to ten years old, grown up brands like BlackBerry and Apple become more important and child friendly brands fade in value and importance. This is pretty young. Before this I would have said perhaps between 8 and 12, not 6 to 10. It is also fascinating to note that favourite ads for older kids in the age group include GoCompare, Cillit Bang and Webuyanycar – so products aimed at adults but all with catchy jingles.
All of this has important implications for us as marketers and makes for great onechocolate market trackers.
Multitasking UK: What will advertisers do next?
The UK has been named a nation of ‘multitaskers’ thanks to social networks and increasingly sophisticated mobile phones, according to new research from Ofcom.
The research reveals that a fifth of all media is consumed at the same time as another form of communication with people spending almost half of their waking hours glued to a screen, on the phone to friends or listening to the radio.
Although TV is as popular as ever, almost one-fifth of the time spent watching TV is now accompanied by laptop or mobile activity. A finding supported by YouGov this week which found that that more than half of UK respondents (58%) are regularly consuming at least one other type of media while watching television.
With television being seen as one of the staples of the advertising industry it will be interesting to see how they react and engage with their target markets moving forward. Brands could sponsor online elements of shows that incorporate your social network, for example real-time quizzes and voting amongst friends. Alternatively, e-commerce professionals as it could offer the unique opportunity to directly link products shown on TV to internet retailers.
Whatever the next generation of advertising will look like we know that the picture below will no longer represent the typical television viewers today.
