New study shows kids motivated by TV and print ads

It looks like those TV and print ads are having an effect on kids after all. Results from New York-based Mediamark Research's 2008 American Kids Study show that children between six and 11 years old are increasingly using the internet to check out products they see in advertised in other media.

The study found that 46.3% of kids visited a site they saw or heard about in a commercial or advertisement. To that end, the older the children, the more likely he or she is to engage in the search after being exposed to an ad.

Nearly 10.7 million young consumers reported visiting a company's website, with similar results for girls (49.4%) and boys (50.6%). Of that number, about 25% are six to seven years old, roughly 33% are between eight and nine, and about 40% are 10 to 11 year olds. The study also found that those kids were more likely to come from more households without rules surrounding which sites they can or can't visit, and that a number of them access the internet every day.

Other highlights show that 48% of those web-savvy kids are more likely than the average US child to access the internet on a daily basis, while 41% are more likely to have their own email address and 50% are more likely to use an instant messenger service.

People moves: Women in Children's Media ushers in new executive

There have been a number of new exec appointments to the industry association for women working in kids media sectors, including a new president, Ashley Fenwick-Naditch.

Fenwick-Naditch joins existing staff as well as other recently appointed members, including WiCM founder Livia Beasley, who steps into her new role as senior advisor. Additionally, New York University Kanbar Institute of Film and Television Associate Professor Lynne McVeigh joins the Board of Advisors, along with new VP Ginny Bloom (manager of original programming, Nickelodeon), communications chair Kristen Schrader (rights and permissions, Comcast Sports Group) and seminar events chair Karen Halpenny (editor, Sesame Workshop).

The association will launch a new Writer's Group with a Writer's Workshop this month, as well as co-host its first panel at KidScreen Summit next month. WiCM is also growing its member-exclusive events and launching a children's media industry mentorship program. For more information, check out www.womeninchildrensmedia.org.

US families report change in holiday spending habits

In the wake of the economic downturn gripping the globe, research and product development company Just Kid Inc. has conducted a survey to find out how US families are feeling the impact. Of the 500 families with kids ages eight to 12 polled, a whopping 77% have made changes to their holiday spending habits.

Surprisingly, 56% of respondents said they aren't buying as many gifts for their children as they have in previous years, with moms saying they're cutting back on gifts for their kids more so than for their husbands. The survey also revealed that 28% of moms are buying more necessities as gifts for their kids. Meanwhile, the largest change is that more than 60% of families are cutting back on gifts for people outside of the immediate family.

Moms' attitudes toward spending have also changed, with more than half (55%) doing more comparative shopping, and 51% using more coupons and store circulars, while 39% are only buying discounted items and 36% are buying only what's on their shopping lists and no more than that. But the credit crisis is also taking its toll on purchase methods, as more moms are making the switch to cash and/or debit cards (27%) from credit cards (7%) this year.

It also seems that moms wants to keep kids out of the stores, as 20% of them said they're less likely to take their kids shopping with them. Interestingly one in four parents surveyed said their children have considered selling their old toys or games to help pay for presents and 11% have already done the deed, as most kids do this to buy new gifts for themselves.

WordWorld strengthens literacy, study finds

PBS Kids' series WordWorld series is all about teaching literacy and a recent study seems to have proven its educational effectiveness.

The study, funded by the US Department of Education, found that the series significantly strengthens early literacy skills in preschoolers. The series is part of the Ready To Learn Initiative, which takes a look at technological effectiveness to enhance these literacy skills in young children. Initial findings have revealed that regular exposure to WordWorld helped kids double their oral vocabulary skills and triple their ability to read specific words from the show during the trial period. Additionally kids in disadvantaged households with English as a second language saw increases in phonemic awareness, along with oral and reading vocabulary.

The Michael Cohen Group collaborated with university partners in a randomized controlled trial to conduct the study involving 795 children in 105 preschool programs with different demographics across the US. Preschools were randomly assigned into groups who watched WordWorld and those who did not.

People moves: Sesame adds dynamic marketing duo

The Workshop is growing its marketing team with the addition of two new positions for Karen Driscoll and Diana Polvere, who join as VP of marketing services and VP of market intelligence, respectively.

Driscoll will oversee the development and execution of marketing plans and programs for Sesame Street and The Electric Company, as well as leading the team responsible for consumer and trade marketing programs, and shaping and driving campaign ideas. She has nine years of marketing experience at Nickelodeon under her belt, and has recently come off a consultancy contract at Worldwide Biggies.

Polvere, who used to be part of American Express' global marketplace group, will provide insight to Sesame producers and businesses about audiences, markets, customers and competitors, as well as leading a team in various forms of research.

People moves: Just Kid ups duo as MDs

Stamford, Connecticut-based research company Just Kid Inc. has promoted two former VPs to the posts of MD.

In their new roles as MD of innovation and strategy, Kimberly Bealle and Janet Oak bring years of experience to the table. Bealle, formerly with Young+Rubicam Advertising, held a post as global EVP and director of its worldwide Fisher-Price business and has more than 20 years of kid and consumer products marketing and advertising under her belt. Oak, meanwhile, worked in the youth marketing department at ad agency Houston Effler Herstek Favat in Boston. At Just Kid, she helped lead positioning and projects for brands such as McDonald's Happy Meal, Mattel's Barbie and Post Fruity Pebbles.

Ad agency WonderGroup taps into social media strategy

Cincinnati-based ad agency WonderGroup, is entering the world of social media strategy development.

Pete Healy, VP of social media and marketing, and Allen McCormick, VP marketing, will be heading up the agency's new services, combining their experiences with such clients as Jelly Belly Candy Company, PlayStation and Topps, to help clients step up brand awareness and brand initiative volume.

PBS Kids lauded in new study

PBS Kids was singled out as being among the most education-rich offering on TV in a new study released by indie research and advocacy org Children Now.

The study lauded the net for programming nine hours of educational programming each day on a variety of topics including literacy, science, technology, engineering, math and healthy living.

For more information on Children Now's "Educationally/Insufficient?" study check out www.childrennow.org/eireport.

More online shopping this year than ever before: Study

A record 71% of US consumers will spend at least part of their holiday budgets at online retailers, according to Deloitte's annual holiday survey of retail spending and trends.

Online shopping ranked second in the survey behind discount department stores. More than one in five (21%) surveyed plan to shop entirely online and 24% of total dollars spent will be spent online.

As for what they're buying, kid-oriented gifts are topping the shopping lists. The consumers surveyed were particularly keen on picking up Nintendo's Wii gaming system, iPods, Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox. Other top gifts included two computer games -- Wii Fit and Guitar Hero -- Apple's iPhone, Barbie and American Girl products and Hannah Montana merchandise.

People moves: HIT appoints new Asia Pacific exec

HIT Entertainment has appointed Henry Or to the newly created role of senior regional manager for its Asia Pacific team.

Or will focus on TV and home entertainment sales for HIT's portfolio of children's properties for the region.

Or began his career at Asia Television in Hong Kong, where he was responsible for program licensing. Later he joined Mei Ah Television and helped market the launch of its satellite movie channel in Asia.

Smarty Pants adds new director of quantitative research

New York City-based Smarty Pants has added Joanna Fanuele as director of quantitative research.

Fanuele will play a critical leadership role on custom research initiatives and will continue to grow Smarty Pants' syndicated production.

She was previously employed at Hall & Partners where she worked in both the New York and London offices.

Girls are spending more time on entertainment: NPD Group

Girls from the ages two to 14 are spending more time on entertainment-related activities than in 2007, according to Girl Power: Understanding This Important Consumer Segment, the most recent report from Port Washington, New York-based The NPD Group.

The new report also says that more than half of the girls surveyed spend more time using consumer electronics devices and playing PC games and video games.

Preschoolers are highly engaged with toys, including plush/stuffed toys, dolls, fashion role-play, puzzles and educational toys.

For pre-teen girls, playing with traditional toys is still the activity of choice, although tweens are migrating to computer and video games, especially online virtual worlds.

More information from the study can be found at www.npd.com

NPD measures multiplatform content consumption

It will come as no surprise that kids are consuming content via a multitude of devices these days. But a new report from Port Washington, New York-based industry researcher The NPD Group reveals some interesting insights into the usage patterns of kids ages two to 14 in the digital realm.

One of the more notable observations to come out of Kids and Digital Content, says NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier, is that despite the greater multi-functionality that devices - including computers, video game consoles, MP3 players and cell phones - provide, kids are by and large using the tech for its primary purpose. A full 86% of kids surveyed said they used iPod-like MP3 players to listen to music, while only 17% said they used the devices to watch movies, for example. "What this means," she explains, "is that the idea of device convergence has a ways to go to before it really becomes a factor in kids lives." In other words, kids won't be casting aside their computers in favor of internet-enabled, all-encompassing gaming systems anytime soon.

The study also revealed kids download video clips the most frequently (7.1 times/month), followed by music videos (5.7 times/month), music (4.2 times/month), games (3.1 times/month) and ringtones (2.8 times/month). But the most popular activity by far remains playing video games, with a full 84% of the study's respondents gaming on all or one of the digital devices.

Interestingly, when it comes to acquiring digital video content, just over half the kids surveyed rely on broadcaster websites providing free content. iTunes came in second, while just 5% of respondents used peer-to-peer file sharing.

As for spending habits, the group involved in the study spent between US$6 and US$12 per month on digital content (including games and videos), shelling out considerably more on physical media such as DVDs and game cartridges (between US$13 and US$18 per month). Frazier says the reliance on physical product is likely due to limited digital distribution for those forms of media. Of the kids who do buy movies, only 27% pick up digital copies, while a full 96% purchase old-school DVDs. That said, it doesn't look good for DVDs sporting kids TV shows, as 68% of the survey participants get TV content digitally, while only 56% shell out for the actual disks.

C&R takes kid pulse with new YouthBeat study

One of Chicago's oldest market research firms, C&R, is putting some spring in its step this month with the launch of a new biannual syndicated report called YouthBeat that's already debunking some commonly held beliefs about US kid and teen behavior.

YouthBeat data is culled from a monthly online panel that polls 10,000 kids ages six to 18 on a diverse range of subjects - including media consumption, advertising, consumer spending and hobbies & activities. Interestingly, the report divides its results according to grade level, not chronological age, and attempts to show how kids (from kindergarten to grade three) are influenced by tweens (grades four to eight) and teens (grades nine to 12) by juxtaposing the results for each demo.

So far, C&R VP Jacquie Lane, who's heading up the initiative, has found a few discrepancies between what kids are really doing and what many grown-up marketers believe they're doing, particularly when it comes to new media consumption and advertising.

Cell phones, for example, are still primarily treated as communication devices by tweens and teens. Both groups are far more likely to be using the multi-purpose gadgets solely for their original raison d'être, chatting and texting, than accessing their media-playing functions. Only 6% of each demo in the survey use their phones for watching video, for example, while 71% of tweens, and 84% of teens polled use them to text.