A
new report commissioned by kidtech group, SuperAwesome has yielded fascinating
results about the future of children’s advertising. The report—researched and authored
by PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PWC”)—projects that kids’ advertising will increase
20% globally by 2021; that’s an estimated $1.2 billion market.
Children’s
advertising is shifting from more traditional methods like television to
digital platforms, like YouTube. However, while TV advertising is declining, it
still reaches a substantial portion of kids under age thirteen. Currently, the
highest investment into kids’ content is channeled into subscription-based video
on-demand services (think: Netflix and Amazon).
A staggering $2-3 billion dollars per year is invested into creating
this content, which is not ad-funded.
It’s
no surprise that, as technology has evolved and become more accessible, kids
are spending increasingly more time online and are one of the fastest growing
markets (one-third of internet users are children!). PWC’s report found that every
second, two kids go online for the first time.
What
accounts for this growth?
- Competition between kids’ brands.
- Increasing population of children.
- A shift from consuming television content to consuming digital content.
- More smartphone and tablet use.
But
the report also cites potential hindrances:
- Increase of subscription, ad-free platforms like Netflix.
- Possible future limits on children’s screen time.
- Brand safety concerns, especially on YouTube. However, the report predicts that YouTube’s ad spend will increase by 12% in the next few years.
In
reaction to this growth, countries across the globe have either implemented or
strengthened their existing regulations regarding children’s privacy. To that
end, some advocates propose that the threshold age under the United States’
COPPA should be raised from thirteen to sixteen (though the report’s predictions
do not reflect this potential change).
A
further prediction is that, by 2021, 800 million kids worldwide would be
covered by data privacy legislation. Similarly, enforcement actions will have become
more prevalent. In the U.S., in addition to FTC complaints, class actions and
actions commenced by attorney state generals are on the rise. So are the fines:
TikTok paid up $5.7 million earlier this year for a violation (remember--this case was the result of a CARU referral!). As advertisers
adapt to this tremendous expansion, compliance with regulations will clearly
become increasingly important and incentivized by the threat of litigation.
To learn more, get the full report about children's advertising online.