Nielsen: Kids Watch 'More Than A Day Of Television Each Week'
Looks like the old electronic babysitter isn’t going anywhere. According to new research from Nielsen reported in the Los Angeles Times, kids and tweens are watching what amounts to more than a day of television each week, marking an 8-year-high. The older segment of the group (ages 6-11) came in slightly behind their younger counterpart at around 28 hours, but the study found they also spend twice as much time playing video games at 2 hours 23 minutes a week.
Couple these numbers with the research Nielsen released earlier this year on the amount of time spent online by the 2-11 age group — up by 63 percent over the past five years — and the recent study on “iPhone Moms” that showed parents downloading apps specifically for their kids and we see the reality of a generation that has always known anytime, anywhere media.
This will be good news to advertisers with growing concerns over new media competition, especially with 97% of kids watching on live TV vs DVR or DVD, but also creates even more urgency to carry out the initiatives raised by the CARU conference — self-regulation on the part of brands across multiple platforms (we’re looking at you, sugary cereals) along with educational campaigns that teach tweens and even younger kids the media literacy skills necessary to recognize and analyze advertising.
I agree these numbers should also be a wake-up call for parents to set appropriate limits on media in all forms (even when it comes to educational programming/games/apps), but I’m hoping this doesn’t take the form of guilt trips or anger directed at networks that offer kids’ programming at all hours. The days of Saturday morning cartoons are long past. Instead, I view this more as an opportunity for families with tweens to explore entertainment beyond the screen — books, board games, sports and just plain make-believe (no toys required). Not only because that approach will (hopefully) go over easier with kids and tweens than a list of rules and limits, but also because the underlying message here shouldn’t be to demonize TV, video games, computers or iPhones (all of which can potentially offer valuable experiences). The key here is striking a balance between time spent in front of a screen and time spent away.
For more coverage of the tween space, check out the Ypulse Tweens Channel.